Surviving the Dead
by OperationKilljoy666
Summary: Arabella Grimes was visiting her family when the walker 's attacked. Leaving her dad behind, she leaves with her mom and little brother. Once they find a camp with other people she befriends a certain crossbowed redneck.
1. Chapter 1

**Tell it to the Frogs and Vatos**

One day we were a happy family, sort of. Sure, mom and dad fought a lot, but we were always still together at the end of the day. At least, until a few months ago. Dad got shot in the chest and was left in a coma. That's when the outbreak started. The city was taken in a few days. Shane, my dad's colleague and best friend, took us. We wanted to get dad, but Shane told us he was dead. We had no time to grieve, we had to leave.

"Hey, mom?" I asked as I walked into her and Carl's tent and saw my mom folding some clothes.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Have you seen my bow? I left it by the fire and I can't find it." I said.

Mom went to the corner of the tent and picked up my bow and arrows, "Why do you need it?"

"I'm going on a huntin' trip with Daryl." I answered.

"Honey, I want you-" Mom started.

"Mom. I'll be fine. I'll be with Daryl. You can't keep me in here forever, ya know."

"Just, be careful." she said, handing my stuff.

"I'll see ya in a while." I replied before leaving the tent.

I walked over to Daryl's area and he was sitting on a log, tying his boots.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yep." He replied, standing up and grabbing his crossbow.

* * *

We spent the night in the woods. A few hours earlier we caught a few squirrels, but they can only have so much meat. The next day Daryl and I tracked a deer. I shot it's leg, but it could still run. Daryl put two bows into it's rear and it still ran.

"Damn, that thing just won't quit. Come on." He said before we chased after it, towards camp.

We walked, following the deer's blood until we came into a clearing. I saw the deer on the ground, dead, but with a gaping hole in it's neck. I also didn't fail to see Shane pointing a gun at us, and a walker's body and head lying few feet from the dead deer.

"Son of a bitch." Daryl said walking to the deer, "That was our deer. Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard." Daryl said while kicking the walker's body.

"Calm down, son, that's not helping." Dale replied.

I sighed and grabbed my arrow from the deer's leg and grabbed Daryl's arrows.

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" Daryl snapped back.

Daryl isn't usually that mean. He's just worried about his brother. He didn't go on the mission to the city, Merle said that he would slow them down. That's why I asked Daryl if he wanted to go hunting. He was upset and cranky.

"We've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl asked, motioning to the neck that the walker gnawed on.

"I would not risk that." Shane replied.

"That's a damn shame." Daryl commented.

"We got some squirrels. About a dozen or so." I said.

"That'll have to do." Daryl said.

I looked over at the walker's head as it started to move.

"Oh god." I heard Amy say.

"Come on people, what the hell?" Daryl said before shooting the eye with his crossbow and taking it back out, "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?"

Daryl walked toward the camp and I noticed a man whose back was turned to me. But when he turned back around I dropped my bow, "Daddy?"

"Arabella." He gasped.

I let out a small sob before running to him and hugging him and he lifted me up.

"Y-you were dead. Shane told us. You're dead." I whispered.

"Shhh, I'm here, sweetheart, I'm here." Dad replied.

"Merle, get your ass out here! I brought back some squirrel, let's stew 'em up!" Daryl said.

"Daryl, slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane said.

I stepped away from dad and watched as Shane put his gun in his jeep.

"About what?"

"About Merle," Shane answered, "There was a problem in Atlanta."

Everyone watched, waiting to see Daryl's reaction.

"He dead?"

"We're not sure." Shane replied.

"He either is or he ain't." Daryl said.

"No easy way to say this so I'll just say it." Dad said, walking toward Shane and Daryl.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes." Dad answered.

"Your dad?" Daryl asked, looking past my dad and at me.

I nodded.

"I thought he was dead." Daryl said.

"So did I." I relied, staring at Shane.

"Well, Rick Grimes, you got somethin' you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him in a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal." Dad said. "He's still there."

Daryl turned around and wiped his eyes, "Hold on. Let me process this. You're sayin' that you handcuffed my brother to roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah." Dad answered.

Daryl threw the squirrels at dad. Dad dodged them and Shane pushed Daryl to the ground.

"Hey!" T-dog said as Daryl took out his knife. "Watch the knife."

Daryl swung the knife at my dad and Shane grabbed him in a choke hold.

"Best you let me go!" Daryl yelled.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane replied.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl grunted.

"You can make a file complaint." Shane responded. "Come on, man, we can keep this up all day."

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can mange that." Daryl didn't answer, "Do you think we can manage that?"

"Yeah." Daryl answered and Shane threw him to the ground.

"What I did was not on a whim." Dad said, crouching down next to Daryl, "Your brother does not work or play well with others."

It's not Rick's fault. I had the key." T-Dog said. "I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

Daryl snorted and looked at the ground before standing up and walking toward T-Dog, "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock." T-Dog replied.

"It's gotta count for something." Dad said.

Daryl wiped his eyes again, "Hell with all y'all. Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Mom said. "Isn't that right?"

Dad looked around before nodding, "I'm going back."

Mom turned around and walked into the RV. Dad sighed and I saw Daryl grab his crossbow. I went into my tent to change.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Mom asked.

I saw dad turn around and look at Glenn.

"Oh, come on." Glenn groaned.

"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would, too." Dad said, looking back at mom.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane said.

"Four."

We all looked back at T-Dog.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl asked, cleaning his arrows.

"You see anyone else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked.

"Why you?" Daryl questioned.

"You wouldn't begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog answered.

"That's four." Shane said.

"Five." I piped in.

"No." Mom said immediately.

"I'm not a kid anymore, mom. I can handle myself." I argued.

"That's not it, Arabell-" Mom started.

"I want to help, mom. End of discussion." I interrupted before sitting down on a log.

"Five. It's not just five people you're putting at risk, you're putting everyone at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here, we need 'em to protect camp." Shane said.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Dad replied.

"Right, the guns." Glenn said.

"What guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen hand guns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Dad replied.

"Ammo?" Shane responded.

"700 rounds." Dad answered.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Mom asked. "To hell with the guns. Shane's right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of our lives, even with guns thrown in." Mom said before standing up, "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Dad said, walking up to mom.

"What's stopping ya?" Mom asked.

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one, our plan was to connect once he got closer." Dad answered.

"These our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah."

"So use the C.B, what's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The C.B's fine. Its the walkies, that suck to crap, date back to the 70's, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars." Shane answered.

"I need that bag." Dad said to mom.

Mom looked down and dad walked over to Carl, "Okay?"

"All right." Carl replied.

I went back to my tent to grab my bow and arrows, my knife, and my hand gun. I strapped my gun to my waistband of my jeans and holstered my knife to my outer thigh when I heard a honk.

"Come on, let's go!" I heard Daryl yell.

I put my arrows on my back before walking out of my tent. I hugged Carl and told mom I'd be back before getting into the back of the van. Glenn and dad were in the seats while Daryl, T-Dog and I sat in the back.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl said to T-dog after a while of silence. "It's only my word on the matter."

"I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through those doors is us."

The truck stopped and Glenn turned to us, "We walk from here."

We got out and started walking on the rail road tracks. We got to the bridge and we went through a hole that was in the fence.

"Merle first or the guns?" Dad asked.

"Merle!" Daryl answered. "We ain't having this conversation!"

"We are." dad said before turning to Glenn, "You know the geography. It's your call."

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn said.

We were able to avoid the walkers and get into the department store where dad was earlier in the week. There was one walker behind the register and dad made signals to Daryl. He moved forward, in front of the walker.

"Damn, you are one ugly skank." Daryl said, raising his crossbow.

The walker started to move toward him before Daryl shot the arrow into it's skull. He walked to it and retrieved his arrow. After we made sure there were no more walkers we walked up the flights of stairs to the door of the roof. T-Dog used the bolt cutters to cut the lock and Daryl kicked the door open.

"Merle! Merle!"

We walked over to what supposedly dad and T-Dog left Merle handcuffed. All that was left was a small pool of blood, a saw, a hand, and bloody handcuffs, still connected to the piece of metal.

"No! No!" Daryl yelled.

It then became silent for a moment before Daryl pointed his crossbow at T-Dog and dad pointed his gun at Daryl.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Dad said.

Daryl lowered his weapon and it looked like he was gonna break down and start crying at any moment. He blinked a few times, "You got a do-rag or somethin'?"

T-Dog reached into his pants pocket and handed Daryl a bandana. He grabbed it and turned back to the hand and layed down the bandana.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." He said before grabbing Merle's hand by the pinkie, "Ain't that a bitch."

Daryl put the hand onto the bandana and wrapped it up. He then stood up and put it into Glenn's bag, "He must have used a tourniquet, maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't."

Dad, T-Dog, and Glenn started to pack up the tool bag that fell and I followed the blood trail with Daryl. We walked into the building that was on the room,

"Merle! You down here?" Daryl asked as we walked down stairs.

I looked up and saw that Glenn and Dad were following behind me. Dad nodded at me and we walked down the rest of the steps. We split up, I was with dad and Glenn was with Daryl, and searched the bottom for any walkers. We met back up and walked into a room with two walkers, dead, on the ground.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches... one handed." Daryl said. "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer and he's crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss." Dad said, walking toward the next room, "No matter how tough he is."

We kept following the trail of blood through the rooms.

"Merle!"

"We're not alone in here. Remember?" Dad said to Daryl.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself." Daryl replied.

We came into what looked like a kitchen and the stove was on. There was a belt and blood all over the counter.

"What's that burnt stuff?" Glenn asked.

"Skin." Dad answered. "He cauterised the stump."

"Told you he was tough." Daryl said. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Dad responded.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl said, walking to the window where glass was shattered.

"He left the building?" Glenn asked, "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do." Daryl answered. "Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog asked. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl answered before turning to dad, "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some poor dead bastard."

"What about 1,000 poor dead bastards? Different story?" Dad replied.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."

"Daryl, wait." My dad said, pushing him back.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me."

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head." Dad said.

"I can do that." Daryl replied.

"Only if we get those guns first." I said.

We walked further into the building and found an office area,

"You're not doing this alone." Rick told Glenn.

Glenn came up with a plan and told us.

"Even I thin it's a bad idea and I don't even like you very much." Daryl said.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn replied. "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look,"

Glenn grabbed a clip and set it down on the sharpie-drawn floor, "That's a tank, five blocks from where we are now." He then put a crumpled up sticky-not next to the clip, "And that's the bag of guns." He then pointed at the floor, "Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun." Glenn answered, motioning to dad.

Glenn then put down a sticky-note dispenser where Daryl would be, "I run up th street, grab the bag."

"You got us elsewhere?" Dad asked.

"You, Arabella, and T-Dog, right." Glenn grabbed an eraser an put it farther away from the tank and Daryl. "You guys will be in the alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?" I asked.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to the that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet up here." Glenn answered.

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked.

"Delivered pizzas, why?"

A few minutes later we went to the spots Glenn told us to go. Dad, T-Dog and I were hiding along th side of a building when we heard someone yelling, "Ayudame!"

"That ain't Daryl's or Glenn's voice." I whispered.

"Let's go." Dad said before we took off running to the alley where Daryl was. When we got there, we saw Daryl by the fence, at his feet was the bag of guns, a boy wearing a wife- beater and jeans, but no Glenn.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop it!" Dad yelled at Daryl when he threw the kid against the wall.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up into you throat!" Daryl threatened at the kid.

"Let me go!" The kid yelled when we pinned him against the wall.

"They took Glenn, that little bastard and his little bastard homie friends!" Daryl yelled. "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"Guys! Guys! We're cut off!" T-Dog yelled, pointing at the walkers that we trying to break through the fence.

"Get to the lab! Go!" Dad yelled pointing behind us.

T-Dog grabbed the kid and we ran. I looked behind me and saw Dad and Daryl running behind us. After we got back to where we were, we put the kid in a chair and started questioning him.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Dad said.

"I ain't telling you nothing." The kid answered.

"Jesus, kid. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked.

"I told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." Daryl said, pacing behind my dad and I.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault." He replied.

"They took Glenn. Could taken Merle, too." Daryl responded.

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl grabbed onto dad's shoulder and tried to kick the kid.

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off." Dad said, pushing him back.

Daryl then walked to Glenn's bag and pulling out the bandana that had the hand wrapped up in.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" Daryl asked, unwrapping the hand, looking at us before tossing it in te kid's lap.

The kid screamed and threw the hand a way before falling off the chair, screaming.

"Start with the feet this time." Daryl said, pinning the kid to the ground.

Dad walked over and grabbed Daryl by the shirt and pulled him off.

"The men you were with took out friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work somethin' out." Dad said.

The kid told us where his group was and we went there, taking him with us. We were sitting outside the wall, loading out weapons.

"Sure you're up for this?" Dad asked me.

"I'll be fine." I replied.

"ALright. let's go."

T-Dog grabbed the bag of guns and walked away.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow to the ass. Just so you know." Daryl threatened the kid.

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass, and shove it up yours. Just so you know." The kid replied.

"G?" Dad questioned.

"Guillermo. He's the man here."

"Okay then." Dad cocks the gun, "Let's go see Guillermo."

Daryl kicks the kid and he gets up. Dad went through the window first, followed by the kid, Daryl and I. Dad had the kid go first as we walked toward the doors, and we had our weapons pointed toward him. We walked, looking around, before the kid stopped in front of two big, red doors. They opened and a dark skinned man walked out.

"You okay, little man?" He asked.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal."

"Cops do that?" The man asked.

"Not him. This redneck puto here." The kid said, motioning to Daryl. "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." Daryl replied.

"Hey, that's that vato right there, man. He shot me in the ass with an arrow." A bald man came out, pointing a gun at Daryl, "What's up, Homes?"

"Chill, Ese, chill." The first man said, lowering the guy's arm. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Dad replied.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion?" The leader asked. "You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment." Dad said, "Mistakes were made on both sides."

The leader motioned to Daryl, "Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related."

"He's one of out group, more or less." I answered.

"I'm sure you have a few like him." Dad said.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys. But I've got asian if you're interested."

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade." Dad replied.

"Doesn't sound even to me." The guy said.

"G. Come on, man." The kid begged.

"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?" He asked.

"Guns?" Dad questioned.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns." The leader answered.

"You're mistaken." Dad replied.

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours. It's my bag of guns." Dad responded.

"It was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word?" He asked.

"Considering the bag said 'sheriff' on it and he's a sheriff, yeah, you should take his word." I said.

He ignored me, "What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now? And I take what's mine?"

"You could do that." Dad looked behind him, and on top of a building was T-Dog aiming a gun at the leader. "Or not."

He smirked, "Oye"

We looked up and saw two men dragging someone with a bag on their head to the edge of the roof and took of the bag, it was Glenn.

"I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back lock and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood." The leader smirked and raised his eyebrows at us before walking back inside, followed by the other men and they close the door.

* * *

"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" Daryl said when dad opened the bag of guns when we got back to the building.

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-Dog asked.

"You callin' G a lair?" Miguel asked.

"Are you apart of this?" Daryl asked before smacking the kid upside the head, "You wanna hold onto your teeth?"

"Question is, do you trust that man's words?" T-Dog questioned dad.

"No, question is what are ya willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?" Daryl asked.

Dad put his gun in his holster, "What life I have owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

"So you're gonna hand the gun's over?" I asked.

"I didn't say that." Dad looked around at us, "There's nothin' keeping you three here. You should get out, head back to camp."

"And tell mom and Carl what?"

We stood in silence before Daryl reached over and grabbed a gun.

"Come on, this is nuts." Miguel said, standing up.

He shut up right away when Daryl forced him to sit back down.

"Just do like G says."

We ignored Miguel and loaded the guns. Once they were loaded we tied a cloth over Miguel's mouth and headed back toward where we met his group. When the red doors opened, Daryl pushed the kid inside and we followed. We were surrounded by people with their guns aimed at us and G walked to dad.

"I see my guns but they're not all in the bag."

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that." Dad replied.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right? Unload on their asses, ese." Felipe told G.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." G said.

"No, I'm pretty clear." Dad said before taking out a knife and cutting Miguel free. "You have your man, I want mine."

"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed them to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale. I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?" G replied.

"No, my hearing is just fine. You said come locked and loaded." We all cocked our guns and everyone else repeated the action. "Okay then, we're here."

"Felipe! Felipe!" I heard a woman yell behind G.

"Abuela, go back with the others, now." Felipe replied as an old woman walked to Felipe.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire." Daryl said.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?" G asked. "This is not the place for you right now."

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine." The lady said to Felipe.

I lowered my gun and watched her.

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you."

Felipe started speaking in spanish to his grandmother.

"Who are those people?" She asked while walking toward us, "Don't you take him. Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

"Ma'am, we're not here to arrest your grandson." Dad said.

"Then what do you want him for?" The lady asked.

"He's helping us find a missing person." I butted in. "A fella named Glenn."

"The asian boy?" Felipe's grandmother asked me. "He's with Mr. Gilbert." She grabbed my hand, "Come, come, I'll show you. He needs his medicine."

Dad, Daryl, and T-Dog were behind me, following Felipe's grandmother and I. Felipe was also following us. We walked outside and into another building. We walked down a hall and into what looked like and auditorium. Felipe walked ahead of us and to a man who was in a wheelchair and people were gathered around him. Felipe put an inhaler into the man's mouth and helped him breathe better.

"What the hell is this?" Dad asked.

"An asthma attack." Glenn answered, looking at us, "Couldn't get his breath all of the sudden."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog said to Glenn.

Glenn looked behind him and we saw three little Chihuahuas.

"The little ones are always feisty." I commented.

"Could I have a word with you?" Dad asked G.

After G and dad talked we followed G into an employees lounge. Dad set the bag of guns down on a chair, we all sat down except for dad.

"What about the rest of your crew?"

"The vatos trickled in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing, too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind, plunderers, the kind that take by force." G answered.

"That's not how we are." Dad replied.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage- appearances." G responded.

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog said.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken." G replied, "So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew bust, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can." Dad answered and handed G his gun.

Dad unzipped the bag and gave G half of our guns and ammo.

"Admit it, we only came back to Atlanta for the hat." I said to dad as we walked back to the truck.

"Don't tell anybody." Dad joked.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl said.

"Not nearly half." Dad replied.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long do you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Dad questioned.

We all looked past the fence where the van used to be parked.

Used to be.

"Oh my god."

"Where the hell is our van?" Daryl asked.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?" Glenn questioned.

"Merle." Dad answered.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl told us.

I sighed before walking to the hole we made in the fence we made and went through it.

"Come on, we don't have much time before it gets dark."

* * *

We were jogging up the hill on a dirt road toward the camp when the sun was starting to set. Then we heard screaming.

"The camp." I whispered.

"Let's go!" Dad yelled and we sprinted to camp.

There were walkers everywhere. We started shooting at them. We were too late. Many people have already died.

"Arabella, go behind Shane!" Dad yelled at me.

I nodded and started to run to them before something grabbed my hair. I screamed and I heard a walker's growl. I couldn't shoot at it. I struggled until I felt it go limp. I turned around and saw the walker on the ground with an arrow in it's head.

"Run, Bella!" Daryl yelled at me.

I ran over to mom and Carl who hugged me.

"Baby! Carl!" I heard dad say and he fell to his knees.

"Dad!" Carl yelled before hugging dad.

It was over. All the walker's that were in camp are now dead. We were all in a bog family hug before I saw Andrea over Amy's bloody body.

"Amy!" Andrea yelled over and over.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes."


	2. Chapter 2

**Wildfire**

None of us slept for the rest of the night. We just stayed by the fire, finding only comfort with our family members. Except for Andrea. She stayed by Amy the whole time. It was now day time, and we had to clean out the bodies. Daryl went around driving a pickaxe into the bodies head, so they don't come back as walkers. Once he was finished, T-Dog and Glenn would move them either to the walker pile, or the group pile. The pile of walker's were set on fire, while we're going to bury the bodies of our group.

I stayed with Sophia, Carl, Eliza, and Louis. Sophia wasn't as bright and happy today. She was grieving her father, Ed. I never liked him. He was abusive to Carol, his wife. He even hit me once when I was confronting him about it, it left a bruise on my right cheek. He threatened to kill me if I told anyone that he hit me. So I had to make up a lie about how I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I ran into a tree. Everyone seemed to believe. But I could tell Daryl didn't. He tried getting the truth out of me, but I didn't budge.

I felt bad for Andrea. She just lost her little sister. And it was Amy's birthday, that isn't making things better. I can't imagine what would happen if I lose Carl.

I was walking with the kids to the fire when I heard Daryl shouting.

"Y'all left my brother for dead! You had this comin'!" He yelled before walking off.

I ran over to Jacqui to help her with a body. I glanced up at Jim and saw fresh blood on his shirt.

"Are you bleeding?" I asked.

"I just got some on my from the bodies." Jim answered.

"That blood's fresh. Were you bit?" Jacqui asked.

"No. I got scratched during the attack." Jim said.

"You got bit." I whispered and Jacqui stood up.

"I'm fine."

"Then show us." Jacqui said.

"Don't tell, please." Jim begged.

"A walker got him!" Jacqui announced, walking away from Jim, "A walker bit Jim."

Everyone got up and surrounded Jim. Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me back next to him.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Jim said.

"Show it to us." Daryl ordered, still carrying the pickaxe.

Jim turned behind him and grabbed a shove.

"Jim, put it down!" Shane told him.

T-Dog then came up behind Jim and grabbed his arms.

"I'm okay, I'm okay."

Daryl ran up and lifted Jim's shirt. Once we saw the bite on his side, T-Dog and Daryl walked away. Jim kept repeating that he was okay. We all sat down around the fire and Jim sat by the RV.

"I say we put a pickaxe to his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl said.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked Daryl.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Dad replied.

"I'm not suggesting-"

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we cross the line?" Dad asked.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl answered.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was workin' on a cure." Dad said.

"I heard that, too." Shane replied, "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the CDC is still up and runnin'?"

"Man, that is a scratch right there." Shane responded.

"Why? If there's any government left, any structures at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" Dad questioned. "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do, too. Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane interrupted.

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Mom said.

"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane continued.

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun, we've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Dad said.

Daryl nodded slightly, "You go look for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl yelled, running toward Jim with the pickaxe in the air.

Dad ran behind him and held up his gun, "Hey, hey, hey! We don't kill the living."

Daryl turned around and lowered the axe, "That's funny coming from a guy who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down," Shane said, looking at the pickaxe, "Go on."

Daryl sighed angrily and shoved th axe into the ground with a grunt before walking awya.

"Come with me." Dad said, helping Jim up.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Some where safe." Dad answered.

We all left to go and do our own thing. Pack, help with the bodies, anything. I knew we were leaving so I decided to pack. After packing my clothes and my other items like weapons and such, I helped Daryl load the bodies of the people from our group into his truck and drive to where Dad and Shane were digging the graves.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies." Daryl said as we walked to Shane and Dad. "It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?"

I looked over and saw mostly the whole group coming up the hill to join us.

"At first." Shane answered.

"The chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hell's in charge here. What the rules are." Daryl continued.

"There are no rules." Dad replied.

"Well, that's a problem. We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need time to bury our dead." Mom said. "It's what people do."

* * *

We buried everyone but Amy. We watched as Andrea dragged Amy's body into the grave. She was struggling, and Dale tired to help. She told him that she could do it, and eventually she got the body into the hole.

"Today's Amy's birthday." I whispered to dad.

He nodded in response and kissed my temple before putting an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into a side hug. Once we were done we all started to head back down the hill Carl was talking to dad, and once they were done Carl ran to catch up with me and I held his hand and we walked back to camp.

Carol went straight to the RV, probably to help take care of Jim. Shane and Dale went to go get guns. I went to mom and Carl's tent to help him pack. This place isn't safe anymore. Doesn't matter if we go to the CDC or Fort Benning. The group is leaving.

Later that afternoon we were all sitting around the campfire. Andrea was asleep in a chair, my mom was using a knife to sharpen a stick and the rest of us were just sitting in silence.

"I've been, uh, I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane said, walking over to the group, "Now, look, there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've know this man a long time. I thrust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

After the meeting Dale asked me to come with him. Making sure my gun was loaded, I followed him into the woods.

"I want you to stay away from Shane." He told me.

"Shane? Why?" I questioned.

"I don't trust him. Earlier when we were out sweeping the area, Shane aimed his gun at your dad."

"He must have thought he was a walker, or a deer, or somethin'." I replied.

"No, he held it there for a while. He purposely aimed at your father." Dale said.

I nodded, "I'll take note of that."

* * *

I'm not surprised that Shane aimed at dad. After he told us dad was dead mom started to hang around him. I noticed how they always snuck around, not coming back for hours. I didn't comment on it. I barely tolerated Shane. Now that dad was back, Shane didn't have mom anymore.

"Everybody listen up." Shane said the next morning. "Those of you with C.B's we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, your gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

"We're, uh, we're not going." Morales said.

"We have family in Burmingham. We want to be with our people." Miranda said when no one spoke.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane replied.

"We'll take the chance." Morales responded. "I got to do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Dad asked.

"We talked about it. We're sure."

"Alright." Dad grabbed a .357 and handed it to Morales, Shane gave him a box of ammo and a C.B. "Box is half full."

"Thank you all." Miranda said.

I hugged the kid's first, then Miranda and Morales. After saying my goodbye's I grabbed my bag and headed toward Daryl.

"You don't mind if I ride with you, do you?" I asked.

"Why can't you ride with someone else?"

"The others are full." I answered.

"Shane's ridin' alone." Daryl said.

"I... I don't trust, Shane." I replied hesitantly.

"Why not?" Daryl asked.

"Look, Daryl... nevermind, I bet I can squeeze into the RV." I said and I turn around, about to walk away.

"Wait," I faced him, "Get in."

"Thanks." I smiled slightly before opening the passenger side door and getting into the truck.

I fell asleep right away, my head resting on the window. I woke two hours later when Daryl woke me up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know. The RV stopped."

We both got out and walked to where the others were, in front of the RV.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." Dale said to dad.

"Can you jury-rig it?" Dad asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out fo duct tape." Dale answered.

"I see somethin' up ahead." Shane said, lowering his binoculars,"A gas station if we're lucky."

"Y'all, Jim, it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore." Jacqui said, running out of the RV.

"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead and see what I can bring back." Shane suggested.

"Yeah, I'll come along, too. And I'll back you up." T-Dog told Shane.

"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane said.

* * *

"It's what he says he wants." Dad told us after talking to Jim.

Jim told dad that he wants him to leave him here, on the side of the road.

"And he's lucid?" Carol questioned.

"He seems to be. I would say yes." Dad answered.

"Back in the camp when I said that Daryl might be right you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer." Dale said.

"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I can live with that." Shane said to dad.

"It's not your call. Either one of you." Mom told them.

Dad and Shane went inside the RV and grabbed Jim. They carefully dragged him o the side of the road, and leaned him against a tree.

"Hey, another damn tree." Jim joked.

Mom told me while the others and I were out, getting Merle and the guns, Jim had a sun stroke and was scaring people, so Shane tied him to a tree and waited till he cooled down.

"Hey, Jim, you know it doesn't need to be this."

"No. It's good. The breeze feels nice." Jim replied.

"Okay. All right." Shane patted Jim on the arm before backing up.

We all said our goodbyes. I found a daisy on the ground next to me, so I picked it up. I walked to Jim and put it behind his ear, "Bye, Jimmy."

All of us got into the cars and drove off. The sun was just setting when we got to the CDC building. There were dead bodies everywhere, and the smell was horrid. I used my sleeve and covered my mouth and nose. We were told to stay quiet and keep moving as we walked up to the doors. But there was one problem. The doors were closed by shutters.

"There's nobody here."

"Then why are these shutters down?" Dad asked.

"Walkers!" Daryl exclaimed from beside me.

Daryl raised his crossbow and shot it in the eye, "You led us into a graveyard."

"He made a call."

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Shut up. Shut up." Shane told Daryl.

"Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked.

"Do you hear me? No blame." Shane said to dad.

"She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark." Mom said.

Behind me there was another walker comin'. I shot it down with my bow. I ran forward to grab my arrow, and Daryl's.

"Fort Benning. Rick, it's still an option." Shane said.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea replied.

"125, I checked the map." Glenn responded.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now." Mom exclaimed.

"We'll think of something." Dad told her.

"Come on, let's go." Shane and T-Dog said.

Daryl grabbed my arm and we started heading back to the cars.

"The camera, it moved." I heard dad say and we stopped.

"You imagined it." Dale replied.

"It moved."

"Rick, it's dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're jut winding down. Now come on." Shane told dad.

Dad ran forward and banged on the shutters. He kept begging and Shane grabbed him, pulling him back. Right when we were gonna walk away, the shutters opened and there was a bright light.


	3. Chapter 3

**TS-19**

We walked toward the doors,

"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane ordered.

"Hello?" Dad asked when we walked inside.

"Close those doors, watch for walkers."

"Hello?" Dad called one more time before we heard a gun cock.

"Anybody infected?"

"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Dad answered.

"Why are you here, what do you want?" The man asked, walking toward us.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days." the man replied.

Dad shrugged, "I know."

The man looked at each and one of us. Probably figuring out that we're dirty and tired and hungry.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." He told us.

"We can do that." Dad replied.

The man lowered his gun, "You got stuff to bring in, do it now. Once this door closes, it stays shut."

Dad, Shane, Glenn, and Daryl went outside to grab everyone's bags. Once they came in the man went to the security system and ran his card down the slot, "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

We then went into the elevator. There being thirteen of us, we had to squeeze it. I was in the corner next to Daryl and Carol with Sophia in front of me.

"Doctors always goin' around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized my self." Jenner replied, "But you look harmless enough. Except you," Jenner was smiling at Carl, "I'll have to keep an eye on you."

"Are we underground?" Carol asked as we walked down a hallway after getting out of the elevator.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner questioned.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it." Jenner replied.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner said when we entered a dark room.

The lights turned on, and there were computers on the platform that was in front of us.

"Welcome to Zone Five." Jenner said.

"Where is everybody?" Dad asked as we walked down the ramp, "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it." Jenner answered, "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Mom asked.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... welcome." Jenner replied.

"Hello, guests. Welcome."

It was a computer.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry."

* * *

What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea said as her blood was being taken.

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you n here. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner replied.

"All done."

Andrea stood up but swayed a little bit.

"You okay?" Jenner asked.

"She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui answered, "None of us have."

* * *

"You know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale said pouring a cup of red wine and handing it to mom, "And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or in France he can have some then." Mom replied.

"What's it gonna hurt, come on." Dad replied.

Mom gave dad a look before we let Carl have a bit of wine.

"Ewww."

We all laughed at Carl's reaction.

"That's my boy, that's my boy." Mom said.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane replied.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said,

"What?"

"Keep drinkin', little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl continued.

Dad used a fork and tapped it against his glass, "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog interrupted.

"Hear, Hear!"

"Here's to you, doc."

"Booyah!" Daryl exclaimed before drinking from the bottle and we laughed.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked. "All the other doctors that were supposed to figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane." Dad said, "Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" Shane looked at dad, "This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we- we found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things go bad a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner answered.

"Every last one?"

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner finished.

"You didn't leave. Why?" I asked.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." Glenn told Shane.

* * *

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Jenner told us as we walked down a hallway with many doors, "The couches are comfortable, but there are some cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in any of the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies, if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Glenn turned around to face us, "Hot water?"

"That's what the man said." T-Dog replied.

We all found rooms and I'm pretty sure we all took a shower at the same time. I had to wait until mom and dad were done. Mom wanted us to share the same room, and I couldn't argue. I finally got to take a nice, hot shower. I can't remember the last time I took a warm shower. At camp I could only wash up in the quarry. I got out about ten minutes later and I was walking toward the Rec room when I heard yelling. The door opened and I saw Shane come out, behind him in the room I saw my mom with tears in her eyes.

"Leave her alone, would you?" I asked after he shut the door.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Shane replied walking past me.

"She doesn't love you. She never did. Yeah, sure, you guys had a thing. And I tolerated it. She was mourning, grieving." I watched as Shane stopped, "She just wanted to feel something. She thought her husband, the man she really loves, was dead. You told us he was dead."

He walked toward me and pinned me to the wall.

"What do you know about love? You were a mistake, a teen pregnancy." Shane said.

I smiled, "That doesn't get to me. Just leave her alone, okay?"

I started to walk away before Shane grabbed my arm and slammed me against the wall.

"I am the leader of the group. You don't tell me what to do." He said harshly.

"Dale's right. You can't be trusted." I replied, yanking my arm from his grip and going to my room.

Carl was sleeping on the couch, so I grabbed a blanket and layed beside him.

* * *

The next morning I got dressed in a button up plaid shirt, ripped jeans, and my combat boots. I made sure my sleeves were long enough, because Shane left a bruise on my arm where he grabbed me last night. I poked it and a small bit of pain ran up my arm. He must have grabbed me hard.

I walked out of the room with Carl and we went to where we had dinner last night.

"Are you hungover?" Carl asked when dad walked in. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Dad replied as he sat down.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Mom responded.

"Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good." T-Dog said, coming over with a pan and gave everyone eggs, "Bet you can't tell. Protein helps the hangover."

"Where'd all this come from?" Dad asked, holding up aspirin.

"Jenner." I answered.

"Can you help me, please?" Dad asked mom, handing her the bottle.

"He thought we could use it."

"Don't ever, ever, let me drink again." Glenn moaned.

"Hey." Shane greeted dad when he walked in.

"Hey. Fell as bad as I do?"

"Worse." Shane answered.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked. "Your neck?"

I bet he ment the scratches mom left on Shane's neck last night.

"I must have done it in my sleep." Shane replied.

"Never seen you do that before." Dad responded.

"Me neither. Not like me at all."

I glared at him when he looked at mom.

"Mornin'." Jenner greeted everyone.

"Hey, doc." Dad greeted back.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale started.

"But you will anyway." Jenner interrupted rudely.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said.

* * *

Jenner had us follow him back to the computer room after breakfast.

"Give me playback of TS-19."

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said as we watched the screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner replied. "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for EIV."

"Enhanced internal view."

Inside the brain were sparkling, pretty lights.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human." Jenner answered.

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked from beside me.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Dad asked.

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." Jenner replied.

"This person died?" Andrea questioned. "Who?"

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner answered.

Test subject 19 was a person Jenner knew. Someone he cared about. You could hear it in his voice. It must have been a wife, or mother, or sister.

"Vi, scan forward to the first event." Jenner said.

"Scanning to first event."

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like Meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, then the major organs." Jenner replied.

Then the brain went dark.

"Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be... gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked.

"Yes." Carol answered.

"Scan to the second event."

"Scanning to second event."

"The resurrection time vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was in eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." Jenner said.

The brain started to have light again, but this time, they were red. And part of the brain was still dark.

"It restarts the brain?" Mom asked.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it get's them up and moving." Jenner answered.

"But they're not alive?" Dad questioned.

"You tell me."

Dad shook his head, "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part- that doesn't come back. The _you _part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Jenner said.

I watched as a flash of light when through the subject's brain.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Andrea replied.

"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations." Jenner ordered.

"Powering down main screen and workstations."

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner responded.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui said.

"There is that." Jenner replied.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody. Somewhere." Andrea said.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol questioned.

"There may be some. People like me." Jenner answered.

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Dad asked.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives- all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." Jenner replied.

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

Jenner didn't answer Andrea.

"Jesus."

"Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again." Daryl said, rubbing his eyes and leaning against a computer.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question but... that clock. It's counting down." Dale said, pointing at a clock that had one hour left, "What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators- they run out of fuel." He answered.

"And then?"

Jenner didn't answer.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Dad asked.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Vi answered.

Dad, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn decided to go to the boiler room to see if there was anymore fuel. The others left to go to their rooms. Mom and I were helping Carl with math when mom got up and put her hand toward the air vent.

"Mom? Something wrong?" Carl asked.

"Nothing. It's just... the air conditioning stopped." Mom answered.

A few minutes later the lights went out.

"Why is the air off?" Carols asked Jenner as I opened the door and poked my head out.

"And the lights in out room?" Andrea asked.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl questioned, coming out with a bottle of Southern Comfort. "Why is everythin' turned off?"

Jenner grabbed the bottle out of his hand, "Energy use is being prioritized." He answered before taking a swig of the alcohol.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked and we all followed Jenner down the hall.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner said as the lights in the hallway shut off.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl asked and Jenner didn't reply, "Hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a buildin' do anythin'?"

"You'd be surprised."

We followed Jenner down steps before my dad confronted him, "Jenner, what's happening?"

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power." Jenner answered. "It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we reached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule."

The clock had 31 minutes and 28 seconds. Jenner took another swig of the bottle before handing it back to Daryl.

"It wad the French."

"What?" I asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the lab till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." Jenner said before he started walking up the steps to the platform with the computers.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening in here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuels. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner answered.

"Let me tell you-" Shane started, walking toward Jenner.

"To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care." Dad said before turning to mom, "Lori, grab out things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

I was already running toward the door and I was in the hallway when I heard alarms. I turned back to the platform and then the door sealed.

"Dad!" I yelled, banging on the metal door. "Mom! Carl!"

I couldn't hear anything. I knew I couldn't open the door, so I did the only thing I could do. Running into everyone's room, I grabbed there bag and set them by the metal door. I made sure I grabbed everything from everyone's room, including their weapons if they had any. Once I was done I sat by the door, hoping it would open. I then heard a noise coming from the other side. It sounded like what happens when metal hits metal. It had to be an axe or something. It wasn't long before it stopped.

I sighed, "This is a bad idea."

I stood up and took out my gun. I aimed at the door and pulled the trigger. I let out a small yelped when the bullet didn't go in the door, it bounced of it. I bounced around and I covered my head before it embedded itself into the wall. I heard the axe again and I lowered my arms. I heard grunts and I knew it was Daryl with the axe.

Then the door opened.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled.

"You alright?" He asked me, putting his hands on my upper arms.

I nodded and I ran over to the bags and grabbed mine.

"Let's go! Come on!" Everyone started yelling.

Daryl and I stayed at the door until everyone came out. Jenner grabbed dad and started whispering something.

"Hey! We've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn yelled.

I must've saved time by grabbing their bags.

"Let's go." T-Dog told Jacqui.

"No no, I'm staying." Jacqui said. "I'm staying, sweetie."

"But that's insane!" T-Dog replied.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." Jacqui finished, pushing T-Dog.

Daryl grabbed my arm and we started running, with everyone behind us. When we got to the first floor, T-Dog ran to the doors, trying to push them open. Shane and Daryl grabbed the axes and banged on the window. All it did was scratch the glass. T-Dog then came up with a chair, if an axe couldn't get through, how could a chair?

"Dog, get down!" Shane said.

He grabbed a shotgun and shot the glass. It still didn't break.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said, reaching into her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said.

Carol ignored him, "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket."

Carol held out a grenade. Dad grabbed it and ran toward the window.

"Look out!"

Daryl grabbed me and pulled me down under him.

"Oh, sh-"

The explosion was loud, but it got the job done. Daryl wen tout first and helped me down. We helped everyone else get out before we ran toward the cars. We shot at the walkers that were coming toward us before getting into the cars. I looked out the passenger window of Daryl's truck and saw Andrea and Dale coming out of the window. Then the RV honked.

"Down! Down, everyone, down!"

I leaned down over the console and I felt Daryl's chest over me. A few seconds later I heard the explosion and the wave of heat. When I looked up, the CDC was gone. All that was left was a giant pile of fire and rubble.

"You okay?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, you?"

He nodded and I leaned my head against his shoulder.

Poor Jacqui.

A few moments later Daryl started up the truck and we were on the road again.


	4. Chapter 4

**What Lies Ahead**

We stopped a while later to re-fuel and change. Daryl decided to ditch the truck, so we're riding on his motorcycle now. Mom took my bag and put it in their car while Daryl put his bag and cross bow on the back of the bike.

Shane and T-Dog decided to leave their cars, too. To save on fuel.

Soon enough we were on out way to Fort Benning. We were on the road for awhile before we ran into a car pile up. We looked back and saw that the RV wasn't following so Daryl turned around.

"See a way through?" Dale asked.

Daryl nodded and motioned Dale to follow. We got through a few cars before I heard the RV pop behind us. I looked behind me and saw the radiator hose became a problem again.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale said.

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of- okay that was dumb." Dale replied.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here." Shane told Daryl, who was digging around in the trunk of a car.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog responded.

"Maybe some water."

"Or food."

"This is a graveyard." Mom said. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Come on, y'all. Look around. Gather what you can." Shane told us.

I went farther ahead with Daryl and T-Dog. While T-Dog got gas from cars, Daryl and I looked around inside the cars. In the first car I found a few blankets. Then next few cars I found canned foods. I looked back at the RV and I couldn't find anyone.

"Bella, get under the car." I heard Daryl say.

I looked at him and he motioned to the car next to me. There must be walkers coming our way. As silent as I could, I got under the green truck. A few moments later, I heard the moans of many walkers. One one side of the car, there was an injured T-Dog. He hurt his arm on a car door. A walker started heading toward him. Daryl came out with a screwdriver and stabbed it in the back of the head.

"Shh." He told T-Dog before grabbing him by the feet and laying him on the ground and put a dead person on top of him.

Daryl then grabbed another dead body from the car beside him and laid on the ground with it on him. He caught my eye and put a finger to his lips. I nodded just as the wave of walkers came through. My light blue eyes kept contact with his stormy blue ones as they walked.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. It seemed like the walkers were never ending. Once they were gone, Daryl threw the dead body off him. I got out and rushed over to T-Dog, who was bleeding badly. Daryl took his rag out from his back pocket and put it on T-Dog's cut. I then heard Sophia screaming. Daryl and I got T-Dog to Dale, the only thing we could do was keep that rag pressed against the wound. So Dale used tape. Soon enough, dad got back. He took Daryl, Glenn and Shane with him to find Sophia.

Mom stayed with Carol, to comfort her. I sat on top of the RV with Carl to keep watch. About a half hour later, Shane and Glenn came back. He had us scavenge the cars and Dale and Andrea helped Shane move cars.

"Why don't you help 'em look through cars, punk?" I suggested.

"You sure?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. You look bored. Gotta make sure you're occupied. Get goin'." I smiled.

He smiled back before going toward the ladder and climbing down. I sat up there until the sun started setting. Until I spotted dad and Daryl.

"They're back." I called out before climbing down the ladder.

"You didn't find her?"

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Dad replied.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night in the woods." Carol said.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl responded.

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own." Carol replied. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Dad said.

"And we tracked her for awhile."

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Dad said.

"Is that blood?" I asked, looking at Daryl's jeans.

Carol started breathing heavily.

"We took down a walker." Dad answered.

"A walker? Oh my god."

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Dad calmed her.

"How can you know that?" Andrea questioned.

Dad looked at Daryl, "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

"Oh god." Carol said, sitting down on the railing. "How could you leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Dad answered.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol."

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol said.

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Dad replied.

"I'm pretty sure no one doubts that." Shane said.

"My little girl got left in the woods."

Mom and Andrea sat next to Carol on the railing to comfort her and dad walked off down the highway.

* * *

"Everybody takes a weapon." Dad said, laying out the arsenal.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea replied. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Arabella, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane responded.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea replied.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane said.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down on the other side." Daryl said, "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Dad ordered.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane said.

"Dale, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move." Dad told Dale.

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back." Dale replied.

"Keep and eye on Carl while we're gone."

"I'm going with you." Carl responded. "You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible."

Dad groaned and looked at mom, "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy."

"Well, he has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands." Dale said.

"Okay. Okay. But always within our sights, no exceptions." Dad replied.

It wasn't long before we left. We had to wait for Andrea, who was talking to Dale. T-Dog had to stay because of his injury. So mostly everyone was going out to look for Sophia. After a few minutes of walking in the woods, we came across a tent.

"She could be in there." Shane said.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl replied.

Dad had us stay where we were while he, Shane and Daryl went to the tent. When they got closer to the tent, Daryl grabbed his knife. He looked around the tent and shrugged his shoulders at Rick.

"Carol." Dad whispered and motioned her to come to him. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?"

Everyone walked up behind Shane and watched the tent.

"Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia, we're all here, baby. It's mommy."

There was still no noise or movement from the tent. Dad and Shane walked closer as Daryl started unzipping the tent. We couldn't see what was in there, but it obviously smelled. The three men coughed and covered there noses and Daryl walked inside the tent.

"Daryl?" I questioned, "Daryl?"

He walked out a few second later, "It ain't her."

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl answered, putting his crossbow on his back.

Then we heard church bells ringing. Dad pointed in the direction where it was coming from and we took off running.

"What direction?"

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." Dad answered pointing ahead of him.

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Shane commented.

"If we hear them, maybe Sophia does, too." Carol suggested.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn said.

"Or signaling that they found her." Andrea replied.

"She could be ringing them herself." Dad said. "Come on."

After a while, we came across a graveyard and a church.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane said.

Dad started walking toward is, "Rick."

We started running around the building and to the front doors. When we pushed the two red doors open, I saw three people sitting on the benches. All at once, they turned their heads toward us. They stood up and I grabbed my Magnum Duck Hunter knife.

Dad and I went for the walker on the right, while Daryl and Shane went to the ones on the left. They didn't put up much of a fight.

"Sophia!" Dad yelled, opening the side door.

"Yo, J.C, you taking requests?" Daryl asked the statue of the cross at the front of the room.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick." Shane told dad. "There's no steeple."

Then the bells started again. Daryl ran outside and mostly everyone followed him It wasn't long before the bells stopped. I sat outside on the steps with Daryl and the others were inside except for Shane and Andrea. A few minutes later, everyone came out and we walked into the cemetary. Shane and dad were talking while the rest of us were under the shade of a tree. I sat with my back against the bark and Carl sat between my legs.

"Ahem." Shane cleared his throat and walked toward us, "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splittin' us up? You sure?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Dad replied.

"I want to stay, too." Carl said, standing up. "I'm her friend."

"I'll stay, too." I said.

"Just be careful, okay?" Mom asked us.

"We will." Carl replied.

"When did you start growin' up?" Mom asked him before hugging him.

She let go of him and hugged me, "Watch him."

"I will." I smiled, stepping back and taking Carl's hand.

"I'll be along soon enough." Dad said to mom, hugging her.

"Here, take this." Dad said, grabbing his gun and holding it to mom, "Remember how to us it?"

"I'm not takin' your gun and leaving you unarmed." Mom replied.

"Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl said, giving it to mom.

"Don't die." Daryl joked, walking over to me.

"No promises." I joked back before turning around and walking with Carl.

"Where's dad?" I asked Shane.

"Inside. He'll be out in a minute." Shane answered.

I sighed and sat on the steps with Carl.

"Get what you needed?" Shane asked when dad came out.

"Guess we'll find out." Dad answered.

"Come on, punk." I said to Carl, grabbing his hand and walking with dad.

We walked for a while until dad stopped us when we heard branches snapping. Dad pointed toward the direction where we heard it and we slowly moved towards it, keeping Carl behind me. Through the trees I saw a buck. I watched as it stepped out into the clearing. I saw Carl's face and smiled, "Wanna get closer?"

He nodded.

We both walked forward, slowly and quietly. I stepped on a stick and the deer's head turned to look at us. Carl squeezed my hand. I smiled and then I heard a gunshot.

I felt pain go through my body as I fell backwards onto the hard ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**Bloodletting and Save the Last One**

** Rick POV**

I ran through the field, holding my baby girl in my arms, her blood soaking my shirt. Behind me ran Shane, Carl, and the guy who shot her.

"Hey, you move shithead!" Shane yelled at the man, "Come on, get us there!"

"How far!?" I stopped and yelled back.

"Another half mile that way!" The man answered, pointing in front of me. "Talk to Hershel. He'll help your girl."

I ran farther for a few minutes before seeing the house. I stopped to re-adjust her before running again. I saw a woman on the porch and heard her yell for her father. A man and a few other people came out as I reached their front yard.

"Was she bit?"

"Shot." I replied. "By your man."

"Otis?"

"He said to find Hershel. Is that you?" I asked the older man as he walked up to me. "Help me. Help my girl."

"Get her inside." He said before we walked in, "Patricia, I need my full kit. Maggie, painkillers, coagulates, grab everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol."

We walked into a bed room and Hershel had me lay down Arabella on the bed.

"Pillowcase."

"Is she alive?" I asked.

"Pillowcase, quick." He said again.

"Is she alive?" I repeated as I grabbed the pillow and removed the case.

Hershel took off her button-up shirt.

"Fold it, make a pad." I did what he told me to do, "Put pressure on the wound."

Hershel took a stethoscope and put it on her chest, "I got a heart beat. It's faint."

"I got it. Step back." An older woman said to me.

"Maggie, I.V."

"We need some space.

"Your name?" Hershel asked.

"Rick." I answered.

"Rick?"

"I-I'm Rick." I repeated.

"Rick, we're gonna do everything we can, okay? You need to give us some room. Now." Hershel said.

I nodded before walking over to the window and saw Shane, Carl, and Otis running toward the house.

* * *

After Shane talked to me Carl asked me if she was okay. I brought them both into the room where they had Arabella.

"You know her blood type?"

"AB negative." I answered.

"Are you AB negative?" Hershel asked.

I shook my head.

"Any of you AB?" He asked and we all shook our heads.

"We need more blood. She's already lost a lot." Hershel said, "What happened?"

"I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it. Went clean through." Otis answered.

"The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved her life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out and I'm counting six." Hershel said.

"I never saw her, not until she was on the ground." Otis said behind me to Patricia.

I turned to Shane, "Do you think anyone in the group is AB?" I asked.

"You should try." Shane replied.

I turned to Carl, who had tears in his eyes and sat across the bed, holding Arabella's hand.

"Carl," I said, crouching so I can reach his eye level, "I'll be back. Do whatever Shane says, alright? I'm not gonna let her die."

He nodded and I stood up, "You got a car I can borrow?"

"Take a horse. Madeline's already saddled up outside." Maggie answered.

"How do I get to the highway?"

"Follow that road, it'll take you right to it."

"Thanks." I said before running out of the house and untieing the horse.

I jumped on and Madeline ran down the dirt road, hopefully the others are there. I can't lose my daughter. I got to the highway, back to the RV, but I only saw T-Dog and Dale.

"What's your blood types?" I asked them.

"A negative."

"B positive."

"Shit. Where's the others?" I asked.

"Rick, why is there blood? Whose bleeding?" Dale asked.

"Arabella got shot. She's AB, and she needs blood." I said, looking around for the others.

"Rick? What's going on- oh my god." Lori asked when she saw me and my blood covered shirt.

"What happened?" Daryl asked.

"Arabella. She's hurt. Bleedin' real bad. Anybody's blood type AB?" I asked quickly.

"Me." Daryl answered.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"I need you to get to the house. Take Lori. Back track to Fairburn road. Go down it, about two miles down that road is the house. Hurry." I told him.

Lori and Daryl got on the horse before riding away.

**Daryl POV**

I got to a big white house and a girl stood on the porch. Lori and I got off right away and ran to her.

"AB?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Go up there. The door's open, you'll hear her screams." She told me.

Lori and I ran inside. The girl was right. You could hear her screams. We walked into the door to see Arabella not wearing a shirt, just her bra. An old man had something inside of her, where the bullet must have entered her.

"Carl." Lori whispered walking over to Carl who was next to her sister as she screamed in pain.

"Who has the blood?" An older woman with blonde hair asked.

I raised my hand and walked over to her. I winced when I heard Bella scream again and the lady put a needle through me.

"I need you to hold her down." The man told Lori.

Lori held down Bella's arm, using the other hand to wipe the hair that stuck to Bella's face. Soon Bella stopped screaming and fell limp.

"What happened?" I asked when the needle was taken out of my arm.

"She just past out." The man answered before pulling something out the the hole near her ribs. "Fragment number one."

"How many are there?" I asked, sitting on the chair in the corner.

"Six. Five more to go."

"What the hell happened?!" I asked, standing up again.

"Hunting accident. A guy shot a deer and it went through it and into Arabella." Carl answered sadly.

"Who the hell shot her?!"

"Daryl, it was an accident." Carl, said standing up.

"I don't care! He's gotta pay for what he did to her!" I replied.

I quieted down when Bella started whimpering.

"I'm gonna need you three to leave. I'll call you back if we need more blood." He said to me.

Lori grabbed Carl and we left the room. I sat downstairs, waiting for some news. A few hours later I was called back up. Apparently they can't take the rest of the bullet pieces out until they get a respirator that Shane and Otis, the dumb ass who shot her, came back. I sat down next to the bed, holding one of her hands and stroking her arm with my other hand. I noticed a bruise on her arm. It was dark purple, you could see it was an outline of a hand. Lori went downstairs to talk to Hershel, the man who's gonna help Bella. When it got dark, Hershel came back up to take her blood pressure.

"Pressure's dropping again. We can't wait much longer."

"Take some more, whatever you need." I said, holding out the arm that was stroking her arm, "Then I'm gonna find Shane."

"Why?" Lori asked.

"Hershel said five miles. They should've been back by now. I'm goin' after them." I answered.

"Daryl, you can't go after them." Lori said.

"Listen to her, Daryl. You already gave too much blood. You can probably barely stand. You wouldn't make it across the yard." Hershel replied.

"She needs that equipment for surgery. If she can't have surgery, then she won't survive. If somehtin' happened to them I have to go!" I exclaimed.

"You can't go, Daryl! She needs you here." Lori said.

I sighed before putting my head down on the bed, next to Bella's hand.

"Shane will be back with what we need. Arabella will be just fine." Lori told me.

It was nearly midnight. Maggie brought a me a sandwich and some milk, but I put them aside.

"Daryl. You need to keep your strength up. You need to eat." Lori said.

Slowly, I grabbed the sandwich and took slow bites, keeping my eyes on Bella. I lost Merle. I can't lose Bella, too. A while later I heard cars pull up outside.

"That must be the rest of the group." Lori said before leaving the room.

A few minutes later Rick and Lori came in, so did Hershel. While he was doing her blood pressure again, T-Dog, Rick and Glenn came in.

"Hey." Glenn said.

"Hey." Lori replied.

"Um, we're here, okay?"

"Whatever you need."

"Thank you." Lori responded and Rick sat next to her and the other two men left the room.

Hershel took the blanket and revealed Bella's stomach. It was discolored and swollen.

"They don't get back soon, we're gonna have to make a decision."

"And that is?" Rick asked.

"Whether to operate on your girl without a respirator," Hershel started.

"You said that wouldn't work." Lori replied.

"I know. It's extremely unlikely. But we can't wait much longer."

Lori left the room and Rick followed after her while Hershel covered up her stomach. He left and I squeezed her hand.

"You're gonna be okay. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise." I whispered.

She coughed slightly and opened her eyes, breathing heavily.

"Daryl?"

"Hey." I smiled, squeezing her hand again.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"In some old man's house." I answered before Hershel, Lori and Rick came in.

"Arabella!" Lori whispered and they went to the other side of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Rick asked.

"Everything hurts." Bella whispered. "A lot."

"Oh, baby. I know, I know." Lori replied, brushing back Bella's hair.

"Mama-" Bella started before her face went blank and she looked away.

"Arabella?"

"What's happening?"

She then started to shake violently and Rick moved to hold her down.

"Don't, it's a seizure." Hershel said. "If you hold her down you could hurt her."

"You can't stop it?" Carl asked from the doorway.

"She has to go through with it." Hershel answered.

Rick hugged Lori as Bella still shook. I looked over at where Carl was, but he was gone. Bella stopped shaking and she was breathing heavily.

"Her brain isn't getting enough blood. Her pressure is bottoming. She needs another transfusion." Hershel said.

"I'm ready." I said, standing up.

"If I take anymore out of you your body could shut down. You could go into a coma. Or cardiac arrest."

"You're wasting time." I snapped and held out my arm.

* * *

"She's still losing blood faster than we can replace it." Hershel said a few hours later. "And with the swelling in her abdomen we can't wait any longer or she's just gonna slip away. Now I need to know right now if you want me to do this, because I think your girl is out of time."

Rick and Lori didn't answer.

"You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori questioned.

"A choice. You have to tell me what it is." Rick whispered to Lori.

"We do it." Lori answered.

Patricia then came in with a metal table.

"Okay, get the corner of that bed. Let's get the sheets down. Get the I.V. bag on the sheets. On three. One, two, three." Hershel ordered.

We grabbed the corner of the sheets and lifted Bella onto the table. Patricia and Hershel started setting up.

"You three might want to step out." Hershel said.

Then we heard a truck outside. Rick went to the window.

"Oh, god."

I followed Rick out the bedroom. It must have been Shane with the medical stuff.

"Arabella?" Shane panted, carrying two backpacks.

"There's still a chance." Rick replied and Shane gave a pack to Hershel.

"Otis?"

"No." Shane replied.

"We say nothing to Patricia." Hershel said after a few seconds of silence, "Not till after. I need her."

I followed him inside and I sat outside the door to the bedroom where she was. A while after Hershel came out of the room.

"Is she alright?" I asked.

"Follow me," Hershel replied and Glenn and I walked outside.

"She seems to have stabilized." Hershel told us when we found Rick and Lori.

We all let out a sigh of relief. Rick hugged Hershel before stepping back to Lori.

"I don't have words." Lori said as she hugged Carl.

"I don't either. I wish I did. How do I tell Patricia about Otis?" Hershel replied.

Rick turned to Lori and Carl, "You two go to Arabella, I'll go with Hershel."

I knew Lori needed some time alone with her daughter, so I stayed outside. When the sun started to come up I walked to Bella's room. I sat down on the chair next to her bed and held her hand.

"Daryl?" I heard Bella asked as she squeezed my hand.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Is Sophia okay?" She questioned.

"Fine." I lied, "She's fine. Now get some rest."

"Thank you." She whispered before closing her eyes again.

* * *

We decided to keep searching for Sophia. I couldn't go because of all the transfusions I gave. Neither could Shane because of his ankle. Rick said he would continue from the creek and Shane said he would go to the interstate in case Sophia traveled back.

I decided to help setting up the tents. Once I was done with that, I set up my tent away from the others, next to an old fireplace.

I was walking around the property when I found a Cherokee Rose. I picked it up and headed toward the RV. When I got in it was all clean, I hardly even recognized it.

"I cleaned up. Wanted it to be nice for her." Carol explained.

"For a second I thought I was in the wrong place." I replied.

It was silent and I put the rose that I put in an old beer bottle onto the counter.

"A flower?"

"It's a Cherokee Rose. The story is that when American Soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother." I said and I watched as Carol wiped some tears away, "But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl."

I started to leave before I stopped at the door, "She's gonna really like it in here."

***Arabella POV***

"Hey dad." I said when I saw dad next to my bed.

"Hey." Dad cleared his throat, "Earlier, Daryl told you something about Sophia-"

"Dad, I know. Mom told me." I interrupted.

He sighed, "He shouldn't have lied to you."

"Dad, he didn't want me to worry. I bet you would've said the same thing if I asked you." I responded. "Do you think we'll find her?"

"I found some things in a farmhouse today. I think she may have been there." Dad answered.

"Like what?"

"In the closet in the house, there was a blanket for someone Sophia's size. The door was shut, so someone had to have shut it. And there was an empty sardine can on the trash-" Dad started.

"Dad, it could've been anyone." I said.

"I know. But we need hope. I truly believe we will find her."

"You look tired." I commented.

"I am tired." Dad smiled.

"I'm like you now. We've both been shot." I joked. "Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah, I think your mother would rather hear we got the same eyes. So let's keep that between us." Dad said.

I tried to laugh, but my side hurt too much.

"Since you're in the club now, you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?"

"Dad, that may work on Carl, but it's not gonna work on me. Besides, I think Carl would look better with the hat than me." I replied.

"You sure?" Dad asked.

"Yeah. Leave the hat and I'll give it to him." I told him.

"Good night." Dad kissed my head before walking out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chupacabra **

*** Daryl POV**

"All right, everyone's getting a new search grid today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse I found she might've gone further east than we've been so far." Rick said as we gathered around the hood of the car.

"I'd like to help." Behind Rick, a boy, Jimmy I think, walked up, "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked.

"Yeah yeah. He said I should ask you." Jimmy answered.

"Alright then, thanks." Rick replied.

"Nothing about what you found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse." Shane said.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea replied.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Rick said, holding his hand near his waist, around Sophia's height.

"It's a good lead."

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." I said. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a birds-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see you Chupacabra up there, too." T-Dog said.

"Chupacabra?" Rick questioned.

"You never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of the time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a Chupacabra." Dale said, handing Rick a gun and Jimmy laughs.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" I asked him.

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?"

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" I snapped back.

Jimmy didn't reply and reached for a gun, "Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?"

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Jimmy said.

"Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees." I replied, putting my crossbow on my back and walking away to get a horse.

***Arabella POV***

"Can't I at least sit on the porch?" I asked mom.

"I don't want you to get hurt. But I'll tell you what, tonight Carol and I are making dinner. You can come down and eat with us." Mom replied.

"Fine. Can you at least bring Carl in and we can play checkers or somethin'?" I asked.

"Sure, baby." Mom kissed my head before leaving.

Carl came in with his checker board and pieces. I also gave him dad's hat and like I said, he looked really good in it. He won a few games, but I won most of them.

"Where's everyone else at?" I asked.

It's been a week since I've been shot. My side is still a little sore, but other than that, I feel fine. I've been sitting in this bed for days. Everyone's been up to see me a few times, but mostly mom, dad, Carl, and Daryl.

"Daryl's out lookin' for Sophia. Mom and Carol are downstairs making dinner. Andrea's keepin' watch. I don't know about the others." Carl answered.

Then I heard yelling outside. I slowly started to get up from the bed.

"Arabella, you need to lay down. Mom said you can't get up yet." Carl said.

"Somethin's happenin'." I replied, walking to the window.

Everyone was running toward the field, but I had no idea what was going on.

"Can you see what's happenin'?" I asked Carl.

He nodded and left the room. He came back a while later.

"Daryl came back. Apparently he looked like a walker and Andrea shot him." Carl told me.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, the bullet just grazed him. He did look scary looking. He was covered in blood. Mom said you can come down and eat now."

I smiled and walked toward the door, slowly. Going down the stairs was the hard part. But I eventually got down with the help of Carl and Carol. Everyone ate in silence.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked to break the silence. "Dale found a cool one. Somebody's got to know how to play."

"Otis did." Patricia said.

"Yes, and he was very good, too." Hershel replied.

We were again greeted by silence.

I cleared my throat, "I'll take this up to Daryl."

"You need any help?" Dad asked.

I shook my head, "I can do it."

I grabbed a plate and filled it up with ham and potatoes before walking up the stairs.

"How are you feelin'?" I asked when I opened the door.

"As good as I look." Daryl replied and I put the food on the night stand next to him.

"How are you?" He asked and I sat down on the bed.

"Still hurts." I answered.

"Then you should be in your bed." Daryl said, sitting up.

"Nah, I'll be fine in a few days." I smiled, "I heard you looked pretty scary. Ears, really?"

"It was so walkers couldn't smell me. I was already attacked by two of 'em and I was loosin' blood." He said.

"How'd you get an arrow in your side anyway?" I asked.

"That stupid horse got spooked and I fell from a cliff." Daryl answered.

I sighed and got up, "Feel better." I kissed his head.

Before I even moved I felt his hands grabbed my waist and pull me down on top of him. I let out a small squeak and put my hands on his chest.

"Jesus, Daryl. What was that f-" I started before I felt his lips on mine.

We went on for a few minutes before I heard my name being called. I pulled back and watched him. He was smirking.

I bit my lip, "I better go."

I slowly got up and went to the door. I could just feel the blush on my cheeks. I looked at him again before opening the door and leaving.

* * *

**Congrats to Norman Reedus for winning the Best Ass Kicker award at the Guys Choice 2014.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Secrets**

The next day people left to learn how to shoot. Carl included. I was bored. I had nothing to do, so I wandered around.

"Morning, Arabella." I heard my mom say, "How you feelin'?"

"Bored." I answered.

"Well, can you come with me? I have somethin' to tell you."

"Sure." I looked at her with confusion before walking with her out in the field.

"What do you have to tell me?" I asked when we were far away from the house.

"I'm pregnant."

My eyes widened and I turned to my mother.

"What!?" I yelled.

"Shhh." She covered my mouth.

"Who else knows?" I asked.

"Glenn and you. That's it." Mom answered.

"Dad doesn't know?" I questioned.

She shook her head.

"He needs to know. He is the father, isn't he?"

She didn't answer.

"No. Shane isn't-. He can't be. Mom, he's an ass." I said.

"No, he isn't, Ar-" Mom started.

"He isn't? Mom he hurt me, and you. He almost shot dad!" I exclaimed.

"He hurt you?" She asked.

"When we were in the CDC. You were crying and he came out. I told him some things and he grabbed my arm really hard." I said.

"Your arm? That's how you got it?" Mom questioned with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah. Let's get back to the house." I said, walking away with mom behind me.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"It's fine, mom. Mostly faded away." I smiled at her before leaving for the tents.

Mom went to talk with Hershel and I helped Dale cook some lunch. Mom came back, but once she smelled the meat, she walked away as fast as she could. In high school I learned that pregnant woman can get nauseous at the smell of cooking meat. Dale followed after her.

"You hungry?" I asked, carrying a plate of food into the tent Daryl was in.

"Who gave you that?" He asked, motioning to my arm.

"Gave me what?" I questioned.

"That bruise. I saw it when you were asleep. It's in the shape of a hand print, so, who gave it to you?"

Why is everyone so curious?

I looked down at the ground, "Shane."

I looked up when Daryl started to sit up, "What are you doin'?"

"I'm gonna go kick his ass."

"You're hurt. You won't be able to touch him in your condition. Besides, I hardly think he meant to. He was drunk." I argued.

"So you're givin' him excuses?" He asked.

"No. I'm just sayin' he was drunk. He wasn't thinkin' right." I replied, pushing on his shoulder and had him lay back down.

"So are we gonna talk about yesterday?" Daryl asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but dad came up to the tent.

"You know about these?" Dad asked, showing me morning after pills.

"No-" I stopped when I realized.

Mom.

"Uh, I'll be back." I told Daryl before rushing out of the tent.

"Mom!" I yelled running out of the gate with dad behind me.

She was sitting by the field. She stood up and faced us.

"Somethin' you need to tell me?" Dad asked mom.

"Arabella, can you go check on Carl?" Mom asked.

I nodded and left. I couldn't find Carl anywhere near the tents, so I thought he was maybe by the barn. I heard growling and groaning. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I looked between the boards in the wall and I saw about a dozen of walkers.

I swallowed a scream and fell onto my butt. I scrambled away from the barn before getting up and running back to the tents. I ran into Carl on the way.

"Hey, have you seen mom or dad?" He asked.

"They're talkin' right now, punk. But hey, wanna go huntin'?" I asked nervously.

"Can we?"

"Yeah. Do you have a gun?" I replied.

He nodded.

"Sweet, let me get my bow first."

"How are you?" Carl asked after I shot a squirrel.

"Fine, why?" I replied.

"You seemed freaked out when you ran into me." Carl said.

"I'm fine. Just a little jumpy. Don't worry, punk." I responded as I put the squirrel onto my thin rope around my belt.

"Can I shoot with your bow?"

I smiled, "Sure. Here."

I handed him my bow. I taught him how to hold it first, then we worked on his stance. After about an hour or two he was able to shoot a squirrel.

"Impressive." I commented, "Let's head back."

I avoided walking by the barn completely. I was just about to head into my tent when Daryl stopped me.

"Are you even allowed out of the tent?" I asked.

"Yeah. And you're avoiding me." He replied.

"No. I'm not. Just a lot on my mind right now." I said as I took the three squirrels of the rope.

"The pills. Were they yours?"

I laughed and looked up at him, "No." I sighed, "They're my mom's. She's pregnant."

"So you're gettin' another little rascal?" Daryl asked sitting next to me.

"Maybe. If she spit up those pills." I answered, staring at the ground.

He put his hand under my chin and lifted my head up. I looked at his lips before looking back at his eyes and I leaned forward before my lips touched his.


	8. Chapter 8

**Pretty Much Dead Already**

The next morning we all sat by the fire. Daryl was sitting in a chair and I sat against his jean cladded calves, eating breakfast that Carol made.

"Um, guys. So..." We all looked at Glenn, "The barn is full of walkers."

We all stopped eating and put down whatever we were doing and headed toward the barn. I don't have to look twice, I know they're walkers in there. Shane did the same thing I did, looked between the boards of the barn.

"You cannot tell me you're alright with this." Shane said, walking towards dad.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Dad replied.

"This is our lives!" Shane exclaimed.

"Lower your voice." Glenn hushed.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea said.

"It ain't right. Not remotely. Okay, we either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've got to go." Shane said. "Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a a long time."

"We can't go." Dad replied.

"Why, Rick, why?"

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol answered.

"Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility." Shane started.

"We are not leaving Sophia behind." Dad interrupted.

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl argued.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane responded.

"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about."

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours. Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" Shane yelled.

Daryl ran forward but dad got between and separated them.

"Back off!" Shane started to walk away, "Now let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!"

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Dad answered.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson." Dale said.

"You knew?!"

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel." Dale answered.

"And you waited the night?!" Shane yelled.

"Hey! I knew, too." I said.

"And you didn't tell anyone?" Dad asked.

"I was goin' to this mornin', but Glenn beat me to it." I answered.

"The man is crazy, Rick. If Hershel thinks those things are alive or no!" Shane yelled.

The door to the barn started moving and the hands of the walkers inside poked out, grabbing at the wood.

* * *

We all left the barn to do our own things. I saw Daryl head toward the stable. I ran to my tent and grabbed my bow and arrows.

"You can't." I said as he lifted the saddle onto the saddle holder rack.

"I'm fine." He said, holding his side.

"Hershel said you needed to heal," I replied,

"Yeah, I don't care." Daryl responded.

"Then let me come with you."

"You were shot." He argued.

"So were you. By Andrea and yourself." I smirked.

He grunted, "Fine."

I smiled and kissed his cheek. After helping him set up the horse we got on and headed out into the woods. We went to the creek where Daryl fell. We followed the trail until I heard a branch snap. I got off and Daryl stayed on the horse. I walked toward the bushes where the I heard the noise. I took out my knife before moving the bushes beside.

"Sophia?"

"Arabella?" Little Sophia questioned.

I dropped the knife and hugged her. She hugged back just as much. She was crying.

"Daryl!" I yelled.

I picked Sophia up and started to walk to where I left Daryl. His eyes widened when he saw the girl in my arms.

* * *

We brought her back and Carol was so happy. She thanked Daryl and I before bringing the girl to the RV. She was unhealthily skinny. We left them alone and walked to the house.

"What's all this?" Daryl asked when Shane walked up to the group with the bag of guns.

"You with me, man?" Shane asked Daryl before handing him a gun.

"Time to grow up."

"Where's Dale?" Andrea asked.

"He's on his way." Shane answered.

"Thought we couldn't carry?" T-Dog asked when Shane handed him a hand gun.

"We can and we have to." Shane replied. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was safe. But now we know it ain't. How about you, man?" Shane asked, giving Glenn a gun, "You gonna protect yours?"

"Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight." Maggie said.

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said.

"What is this?" Mom asked, running up to the group.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? Well, he's gonna have to." Shane said, grabbing a gun and heading to Carl, "Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?"

"No." I spoke up.

"What?" Shane and Carl turned to me.

"We found her a while ago." Daryl said, standing next to me.

"Where is she?" Carl asked.

"In the RV. Probably eating. She looked like a skeleton when we found her." I answered and he took off in the direction of the RV.

"Oh shit." We heard T-Dog say.

We looked in the direction he was looking and saw Jimmy, Dad, and Hershel coming out with two walkers.

"What is that?"

"Shane!" Mom yelled and we all ran behind Shane.

"What the hell you doin'?" Shane asked dad.

"Shane, just back off." Dad replied.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked.

"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" Shane asked.

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel replied.

"No, man, you don't." Shane responded.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Dad said.

"What you want to talk about Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us!"

"Shane, shut up!" Dad yelled.

"Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you something. Could a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane asked as he shot the walker Hershel was holding onto three times in the chest.

"Stop it!"

"Three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they take that?! Why is it still coming?" Two more times, "That's it's heart, it's lungs. Why is it still coming?!" Another time to the stomach.

"Shane, enough!" Dad yelled.

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." Shane said, walking up to the walker and shooting it in the head.

I watched as Hershel fell to his knees, watching the walker fall.

"Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before. Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now."

Dad was trying to get Hershel to take the snare pole as Shane ran to the barn, grabbed a pickaxe and broke the lock on the door. Everyone who had guns raised them. Mom ran up and pulled me back as the walkers ran out.

"Stay back!" Dad yelled at us.

Many walkers and many gunshots later, all the walkers were dead.

* * *

**I thought it was horrible when Sophia became a walker so I decided she would still be alive in my story.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Nebraska and Triggerfinger**

Behind us Beth was crying and Jimmy was holding her. Hershel was on the ground, hands covering his mouth. Beth walked forward and to her mom.

"Ma.." She whispered.

The walker that used to be her mother then reached out and grabbed her and Beth started screaming. We all ran forward and pulled Beth away from the walker. Andrea grabbed the pickaxe Shane used to break the lock and stabbed it into the walker's head. Patricia and Hershel put their arms around Beth and they started heading toward the house, followed by Jimmy, Maggie, Glenn, Dad, and Shane.

"I want you off my land." Hershel said to Shane.

Dad and Shane started arguing, probably about what Shane did. I sighed and headed toward the RV. I walked in and Sophia was sleeping next to her mother.

"Thank you." Carol whispered to me.

I nodded, "Do you know where Carl is?"

"Dale came and got him. He's in his tent." Carol answered.

"Thanks." I smiled before leaving the RV.

Daryl came and got me for the burying of Beth's mom and Hershel's stepson. After that was done we went hunting. We caught a few rabbits and squirrels. We went back to Daryl's tent by the old, beaten down fireplace to cook them up.

"Arabella!"

I looked over at Carl.

"Yeah, punk?" I asked.

"Mom wants to see you." Carl answered.

"Alright." I sighed.

I kissed Daryl before getting up and leaving with Carl.

"Since when were you two together?" He asked when we were farther away from Daryl.

"Since a few days ago." I answered

"'Bout time." I heard Carl mutter.

"Race ya." I said before running in front of him.

"Hey mom." I greeted when I won. "Carl said you were lookin' for me?"

"Carol's helping Maggie look after Beth. I need you to watch Carl and Sophia for me, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. Where you goin'?" I asked.

"No where, sweetie." Mom kissed my forehead before leaving.

I looked down at Carl with confusion. He shrugged and we walked over to the RV. Sophia woke up when we walked through the door.

"Hey." I smiled.

She smiled back. The whole time Carl and Sophia played checkers and a few other board games in the RV. A few hours later there was a knock.

"Hi, Dale." I greeted when he came in.

"Dinner's ready." He said.

"Finally." Carl said before we left and walked to the house.

"They should've been back by now." Andrea said, walking into the dining room.

"Yeah. They just got holed up somewhere. We'll head out first thing in the morning." Shane replied.

"Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay? Your old man, he's the toughest son of a-" Shane started.

"No cussin' in the house." Patricia interrupted.

"Sorry."

"Lori, dinner." Carol called out.

"She's not in there." Maggie said.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Carl, Arabella, when was the last time you saw your mother?" Shane asked.

"A few hours ago." Carl answered.

"She asked me to look after Carl and Sophia. She was worried about something." I said.

"She went after them?" Dale asked.

"After who?" I asked.

"Glenn and Rick went after Hershel in town." Dale answered.

"I asked where she was going and she didn't say anything." I said.

"Nobody panic. She's got to be around here somewhere." Shane said.

* * *

"She's not at the barn." Shane said.

"I checked the yards." T-Dog replied, walking up to Andrea, Carl and I.

"Well, where is she?" Carl asked.

"She asked Daryl to go into town. Must've gone herself." Carol said, running up to us.

Carl covered his mouth and started whimpering. I put my arm around his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Did you know about this? Shane asked Dale.

"No." Dale answered.

"Did she at least take a gun?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't let her go out there alone." Dale answered and we watched as Shane walked to his Hyundai and drove off.

* * *

Carl let go of me and walked off, toward the house. I sighed and started walking toward Daryl's tent.

"You're probably mad, aren't ya?" Daryl asked after I sat down next to him by the fire.

I shook my head, "No. I'm scared. But I'm not mad."

"I'm sorry."

I smiled and laid my head on his shoulder, "Did Daryl Dixon just apologize?"

"Shut up."

I smiled even more before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

The next morning I woke up in Daryl's tent. I sat up and looked down at his poncho that was on top of me. I yawned before stepping out of the tent.

"Mornin' sunshine." Daryl said.

"Hi." I replied.

"Your mom's back. So is your dad."

"Are they okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Your dad brought back someone, though. His leg went through a fence and his group left him for dead." Daryl answered.

"He isn't stayin', is he?" I questioned, sitting next to him.

He shook his head, "Once he can walk your dad and Shane is gonna drop him off somewhere."

I sighed and he handed me a plate, "Here. Finished cookin' the squirrel a few minutes before you woke up."

"Thanks."


	10. Chapter 10

**Judge, Jury, Executioner**

"So what are you gonna do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan." Mom asked dad and Shane as she handed out cups of water.

"Is there a plan?" Andrea asked.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn questioned.

"We'll know soon enough." Dad answered as Daryl walked toward us.

He was coming back from the shed, where we keep Randall. I noticed his knuckles were all bloody.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna-" Daryl hesitated and looked at me, "They're gonna wish they were."

I did not like the sound of that.

"No one goes near this guy." Dad ordered.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Mom asked.

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat." Dad answered.

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale questioned.

"It's settled. I'll do it today." Dad said before walking off and Dale followed.

Daryl and I went back to his little camp and I cleaned up his knuckles and wrapped them.

"The whole point of me coming up here is to get away from you people." Daryl said, looking behind me.

"Gonna take more than that." Dale replied.

"Carol send you?" Daryl asked.

"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about your new role in the group." Dale said.

"Oh man, I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken. I'm better off fending for myself."

"You act like you don't care." Dale commented.

"Yeah, it's 'cause I don't." Daryl replied, grabbing his long sleeve shirt and his leather vest and putting it on.

"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?" Dale asked.

"Nope." Daryl answered.

"Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?" Dale questioned.

"Didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch."

"You opinion makes a difference." Dale said.

"Man, ain't nobody lookin' at me for nothin'." Daryl replied, grabbing his crossbow, "You comin'?"

"Nah. I have to help mom with laundry." I answered.

"See ya later." He kissed my head before starting to walk away.

"You obviously have Rick's ear." Dale said.

"Rick just looks to Shane. Let him."

"You cared about what happened to Sophia. Cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane, he's different." Dale said.

"No kiddin'. 'Cause he killed Otis. Hurt Bella." He replied.

"He hurt you?" Dale asked, looking at me.

"It was just a bruise." I said.

Dale then focused his attention on Daryl, "He tell you that he killed Otis?"

"He told some story. How Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna. It's like I said, group's broken." Daryl said before leaving.

I walked with Dale back to the other tents and started hanging up the wet laundry, taking down the dry ones. I smiled when I saw Carl and Sophia run around the tents. Sophia has gained some weight, and she's smiling a lot more. A few minutes later Carl came over without Sophia.

"Where's Sophia?" I asked.

"Her mom wanted to see her." He answered, sitting down.

"So why are you here?" I questioned.

"I was bored."

"Oh, so you want to help me with laundry, punk?" I asked.

He made a face before getting up and running off. I laughed before hanging up mom's shirt. The rest of the day I walked around, doing chores until the sun started to set. We all went into the house to hear whether we kill Randall or not.

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn asked.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea questioned.

"How about majority rules?" Mom suggested.

"Let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options." Dad said.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane said.

"Killing him," Dale replied, "Right? I mean why bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know." Dad said.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group. Maybe just me and Glenn." Dale responded.

"Look, I pretty much think you're right about everything, all the time, but this-" Glenn started.

"They've got you scared."

"He's not one of us." Glenn argued. "And we've lost too many people already."

"How about you? Do you agree with this?" Dale asked Maggie.

"Couldn't we continue keepin' him prisoner?" Maggie asked.

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl said from beside me.

"It may be a lean winter."

"We could ration better." Mom replied.

"Well, he could be an asset. Give him a chance to prove himself." Dale said.

"Put him to work?" Glenn asked.

"We're not letting him walk around." Dad answered.

"We could put an escort on him." Maggie suggested.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked.

"I will." Dale answered.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Dad said.

"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor." Andrea said.

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let out guards down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime the he may never even attempt? If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization." Dale responded.

"Oh my god."

"Could you drive him further out?" Hershel asked dad. "Leave him like you planned?"

"You barely came back this time." Mom said, "There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."

"Or get ambushed." I said.

"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn replied.

"If you go through with it, how would you do it?" Patricia asked. "Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Shane questioned.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane." Dad answered.

"What about the body? Do we bury him?" T-Dog asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on. You're talking about this like it's already decided." Dale interrupted.

"You've been talkin' all day, goin' 'round in circles. You just want to go 'round in circles again?" Daryl asked.

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?" Dale exclaimed.

"We all know what needs to be done." Shane said.

"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-" Dad started.

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea interrupted.

"Let Rick finish." Mom said.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could." Andrea finished.

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.

"We are."

"Stop it. Just stop it. I'm sick of everyone arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't decide something like this. Please decide, either of you, both of you, but leave me out." Carol said.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself. There's no difference."

"Alright, that's enough. Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." Dad said.

It was total silence.

"You once said that we don't kill the living." Dale said after a few moments.

"That was before the living tried to kill us." Dad replied.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's... harsh. It's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't want to live and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right."

Silence,

"Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

Silence,

"He's right." Andrea said, "We should try and find another way."

"Anybody else?" Dad asked.

More silence.

"Are y'all gonna watch, too?" Dale asked. "No, you'll go hide you heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Well, I won't be a party to it."

"This group is broken." Dale told Daryl before leaving the house.

That night I stayed by the fire at Daryl's tent. I was just about to put the fire out when I heard a scream. I grabbed my and gun and started running toward the yelling.

"Dale!"

Oh no. Not Dale.

I ran faster than I thought I could. I got there when Daryl tacked the walker and stabbed it on the top of it's head. I ran over and kneeled next to Dale. His stomach was ripped open and he was losing a lot of blood.

"Hang in there, buddy." Daryl said.

Dad ran over and kneeled next to me, "Alright, just listen to my voice. Listen to me, alright? Just listen to me."

"Get Hershel!" I yelled.

"He needs blood. We got to operate now." Dad said.

"What happened?" Hershel asked.

"What can we do?" Dad asked Hershel. "Can we move him?"

"He won't make the trip." Hershel answered.

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house-" Dad started.

"Rick." Hershel said and shook his head.

"No!"

Dale was groaning in pain.

"He's suffering." I said.

"Do something!" Andrea yelled.

Dad grabbed his gun and aimed it at Dale's head. His hand was shaking. Daryl walked over and grabbed the gun from my dad. Dad stepped back to let Daryl shoot.

"Sorry, brother." Daryl said before he pulled the trigger.

* * *

**RIP Dale Horvath. I'm going up north for about a week so I won't post again until probably next Friday.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Better Angels and Beside the Dying Fire**

The next morning we buried Dale next to Shawn and Annette. After Shane, Andrea, T-Dog and Daryl went out on patrol. Once they came back Hershel said we could move into the house. I was helping Carl pack the tent and the stuff inside it. Once we were done Carl and I were walking to the house with the bags. Mom, Carl, dad and I were gonna sleep in Hershel's room. Carol and Sophia were sharing with Beth. Andrea was sharing with Maggie. The rest of the boys were gonna sleep downstairs in the living room.

"You gonna go drop off Randall?" I asked when Daryl stepped out of the bathroom.

"Yep. Might not make it back till nightfall. Your dad's plannin' on bringing him out to Senoia." Daryl answered before walking down the hallway.

"What? No kiss goodbye?" I questioned.

He turned around and raised his eyebrows before walking back over to me and kissing my cheek. I glared at him before grabbing onto his vest and kissing his lips. We went on for a few minutes before I pulled back, "See you tonight."

I left to go find mom when I heard yelling. Apparently Randall escaped.

"What's wrong?" Mom asked.

"Randall's missin'." I answered.

"Missing? How?"

"How long has he been gone?" Hershel asked.

"It's hard to say."

"The cuffs are still hooked. He must've slipped 'em." Dad said.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose." Andrea answered.

"The door was secure from the outside." Hershel said.

"Rick! Rick!"

I looked over from where the yelling was coming from. It was Shane. And he was bloody.

"What happened?"

"He's armed." Shane said, running up to the group. "He's got my gun."

"Are you okay?" Carl asked.

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face." Shane answered.

"Alright, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Dad ordered.

"Let him go. That was the plan, wasn't it? To let him go?" Carol asked.

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun." Shane answered.

"Don't go about there. Y'all know what can happen." Carol said.

"Get everybody back in the house." Dad said as they walked off. "Lock all the doors and stay put."

"Go keep watch upstairs, okay?" I told Carl.

He nodded and ran up the steps.

Sophia and Carol were sitting on a chair and Hershel and Maggie were setting up the beds. Mom was pacing and T-Dog and I were looking out the windows. After a while we all just sat down and waited in silence.

"I'm going after them." Andrea said.

"Don't. They could be anywhere." Mom replied. "And if Randall comes back we're gonna need you here."

The door opened and Glenn and Daryl walked in.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked.

"No." I answered.

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall." Mom replied.

"We found him." Daryl said.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker." Daryl answered.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel questioned.

"No, weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn replied.

"His neck was broke." Daryl said.

"So he fought back."

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together. " Daryl said.

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find what on earth is going on?" Mom asked Daryl.

"You got it."

"Thank you."

I looked back out the boarded up window, "Holy shit."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"Outside." I said before running out onto the porch with Daryl, Andrea, and Glenn.

"Patricia, kill the lights." Hershel said when the others came out.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea said.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down." Daryl answered.

I ran inside and got my bow and arrows before going back outside.

"Carl's gone." Mom said, coming outside.

"What?"

"He was upstairs. I can't find him anymore." Mom replied.

"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs, I told him to look out." I said.

"I'm not leaving without my boy." Mom said.

"We're not." Carol said, her hand's on Sophia's shoulders, "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him."

Maggie and Andrea came back out with the gun bag and I grabbed mine.

"Maggie." Glenn said when she handed him a gun.

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two." Maggie replied.

"I got the number, it's no use." Daryl said.

"You can go if you want." Hershel replied.

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked.

"We have guns. We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Andrea said.

"Are you serious?" Daryl asked.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel told Daryl.

"All right. It's as good a night as any." Daryl said before jumping over the railing and helping me down. We ran to his motorcycle and we drove toward the fence when we saw that the barn was on fire.

We started shooting the walkers coming toward the fence. Once too many walkers got too close Daryl drove over to Jimmy who was in the RV.

"Yo! Must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire. Maybe they're tryin' to get out back! Why don't you circle 'round?" Daryl asked.

"Got it!" Jimmy replied before driving toward the barn.

We drove around, shooting as many walkers as we could.

"Ready to get out of here?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah." I answered.

I wrapped my arms around his waist as we drove down the dirt roads that had a lot of walkers on them. None of them were fast enough to grab us.

"We should go back to the highway! Maybe the others are there!" I yelled.

"Alright!" Daryl yelled back.

It was daylight when we saw a green Hyundai. Daryl drove faster and got in front of it. Awhile later I looked behind me when there was a honk and saw T-Dog's blue truck. Soon enough we were back where we were at the highway. Good thing was, I saw Hershel's red truck. I was able to see Hershel, Dad, Carl, Carol, and Sophia. Once Daryl stopped the bike I jumped off and ran over to hug Dad and Carl.

"Oh, thank god!" I heard.

I turned around and mom ran over to us and hugged us.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Dad asked once we stopped hugging and I went over by Daryl again.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road-figured it had to be an asian drivin' like that." Daryl answered.

"Good one." Glenn replied.

"Where's the rest of us?" I asked.

"We're the only ones who made it so far." Dad answered.

We were missing Patricia, Jimmy, Shane, and Andrea.

"Shane?" Mom asked.

Dad shook his head. So I guess we're just missing Patricia, Jimmy, and Andrea.

"Andrea?" Glenn questioned.

"She saved me then I lost her." Carol said.

"We saw her go down." T-Dog replied.

Then just Patricia and Jimmy.

"Patricia?"

"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was, I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just-" Beth couldn't finish as she sobbed into her dad's chest. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It got overrun." Dad answered and Beth let out a sob again.

Okay, so we weren't missing anyone.

"You defiantly saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere." Mom replied.

"Did you see her?" Carol asked T-Dog.

"I'm gonna go back." Daryl said when he didn't answer.

"No."

"We can't just leave her." Daryl replied.

"We don't even know if she's there." Mom said.

"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her." Dad responded.

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn questioned.

"We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here." Dad answered.

"I say head east." T-Dog said.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him." Daryl said as he grabbed his crossbow and shot the walker in the eye.

Hershel, Maggie, Beth, T-Dog, and Glenn got into the green Hyundai and Mom, dad, Carl, Sophia, and Carol got into Hershel's truck and I went with Daryl on his brother's motorcycle.

We were driving for about two hours when the red truck honked and we pulled over. We all got out of the vehicles and turned toward dad.

"You out?" Daryl asked.

"Running on fumes." Dad replied.

"We can't stay here." Maggie said.

"We can't all fit in one car."

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Dad said.

"And spend the night here?" Carol asked.

"I'm freezing." Carl said.

"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Mom replied.

"You go out lookin' for firewood, stay close." Daryl said. "Only got so many arrows. How you doin' on ammo?"

"Not enough." Dad answered.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hangin' out." Maggie said.

"Watch your mouth." Hershel replied, "Everyone stop panickin' and listen to Rick."

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find some gas and supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie suggested.

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car." Dad responded.

"Dad, we're stranded now." I said.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I really wasn't, but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place." Dad replied.

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Glenn said.

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other." Dad responded. "I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Maggie said.

"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel replied.

"We'll make camp tonight over there," Dad said, looking at some stone walls, "Get on the road at the break of day."

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked dad.

"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Daryl told dad,

"How's that possible?"

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Mom asked.

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl said.

"And then the herd got him?" Mom questioned.

"We're all infected." Dad said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?"

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it." Dad replied.

"And you never said anything?" Carol asked.

"Would it have made a difference?" Dad replied.

"You knew this whole time?"

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-" Dad began.

"That isn't your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone." Glenn interrupted.

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." Dad replied before walking off and mom followed.

* * *

That night I saw sitting next to Daryl as he put sticks into the fire.

"I think we should take our chances." Maggie said.

"Don't be foolish." Hershel replied, "There's no food, no fuel, no ammo."

A branched snapped a few yards away.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"Could be anythin'. Could be a raccoon. Could be a possum." Daryl answered, standing up and taking his crossbow off his back.

"Walker."

"We need to leave. What are we waiting for?" Carol asked.

"Which way?" Glenn asked.

"It came from over there." Maggie answered, looking past dad.

"Back from where we came." Beth finished.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark. We don't have vehicles. No one's traveling on foot." Dad said.

A branched snapped again and I grabbed my gun.

"Don't panic."

"I'm not sittin' here, waitin' for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now." Maggie replied.

"No one is going anywhere." Dad said,

"Do something." Carol told dad, holding onto to Sophia's shoulders.

"I am doing something." Dad whispered harshly, "I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for christ's sake!"

We were all silent.

"You all saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my best friend, but he came after me."

I watched as Carl hugged mom tightly, crying into her chest.

"My hands are clean," Dad finished. "Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard."

None of us moved from out positions.

"Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get."

We all looked around at each other, waiting for something to happen.

"No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight- you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

Looking at all of us, dad left without another word.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sick**

While they were gone we started cleaning up the cell block. It was about an hour later when we heard yelling.

"Open the door! It's Hershel!"

I heard screaming from Beth as they wheeled a one legged Hershel into the cell blocks. The cell they brought him into was too crowded so I stayed outside next to Sophia who was clinging onto my shirt.

"I need bandages." Carol said.

"We used everything we had." Glenn replied.

"Well, get more. Anything." Carol responded.

"Carl, go get the towels from the back, right next to my bed." Mom told Carl.

"Is he gonna die?" Beth asked.

"No, no, no, no. He's gonna be okay." Mom said to Beth and she hugged the girl.

"You think you can stabilize him?" Dad asked Carol.

"I need to keep his leg elevated." Carol told him. "Get some pillows."

I took Sophia to some of the empty cells where there were pillows on the beds an brought them to Carol.

"We need to keep it dressed and let it heal on its own." Carol said.

I then heard talking outside the cell block.

"What was that?" Sophia asked.

Dad came over to me after talking to Glenn, "I need your help."

I nodded, still a bit confused.

"There's prisoners that survived. We need to get them out of the block. Stay close to either Daryl or me, got it?" Dad said.

"Got it." I replied before following him out of the block and Carl locked it behind us.

"There ain't nothin' for you here." Daryl told the fiver prisoners, "Why don't you go back to your own sandbox?"

"Hey, everyone relax. There's no need for this." Dad said, interrupting.

"How many of you are in there?" The one with the gun asked, looking at me.

"Too many for you to handle." Dad answered.

"You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to the hospital?"

"How long have you been in that cafeteria?" Dad asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Going on like ten months." He answered.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it." The tallest man said.

"Attica on speed, man." Blondie said.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy."

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back." The man with the gun said.

"Yeah, that was 292 days ago." A different man finished.

"94 according to my calcula-"

"Shut up!" The guy with the gun said.

"We were thinking that the Army or National Guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no Army." Dad said.

"What do you mean?" The guy with the gun asked.

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone." Dad answered.

"For real?" Blondie asked.

"Serious." Dad said.

"What about my moms?"

"My kids? And my old lady? Yo, you got a cell phone or something we can use to call our families?"

"You just don't get it, do ya?" Daryl replied.

"No phones, no computers." I said.

"As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more." Dad said.

"Ain't no way." The man with the gun replied.

"See for yourself." Dad responded, pointing towards the door with his knife.

We let the five prisoners outside and Daryl grabbed my arm, "You stay close to me, okay?"

I nodded before following dad.

"Damn, this sun feels good." Oscar said, stretching.

"Good Lord. They're all dead." Axel commented, looking at all the walker bodies.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences." Tomas said.

"You never said- how the hell did you get in here in the first place?" Andrew asked.

"Cut a hole in that fence by that guard tower." Daryl said, pointing to the tower.

"That easy, huh?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way." Daryl replied.

"Easy for you to say." Andrew responded.

"So what is this, like a disease?" Big Tiny asked.

"Yeah, and we're all infected." Dad answered.

The prisoners looked at him, "What do you mean infected? Like AIDS or something?"

"If I was to kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these things. It's gonna happen to all of us." Daryl answered.

"Ain't no way these Robin Hood cats responsible for killing all these freaks." Tomas said. "Must be 50 bodies out here. Where'd you come from?"

"Atlanta."

"Where you headed?" He asked.

"For now, nowhere." Dad answered.

"I guess you can take that area down there near the water." Tomas said, pointing toward a field, "Should be comfortable."

"We're using that field for crops." Dad replied.

"We'll help you move your gear out." Tomas responded.

"That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers. This prison is ours." Dad said.

"Slow down, cowboy."

"You snatch the locks off our doors." Andrew said, standing next to Tomas.

"We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it." Dad replied.

"This is our prison. We were here first." Tomas said.

"Locked in a broom closet?" Dad asked. "We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood."

"We're moving back into our cell block." Tomas stated.

"You'll have to get your own." Dad replied.

"It is mine. I've still got personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets." Tomas said, grabbing his gun.

Daryl pushed me behind him and raised his crossbow and I grabbed my gun.

"Maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins." Axel said.

"I don't see that happening."

"Neither do I."

"I ain't going back into that cafeteria for one more minute." Tomas said.

"There are other cell blocks." Axel told Tomas.

"You could leave." Daryl said. "Try your luck out on the road."

"If these four pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block." Tomas said.

"With what?" Big Tiny asked.

"Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons." Tomas answered. "Won't you, boss?"

"How stocked is that cafeteria?" Dad asked. "It must have plenty of food. Five guys lasting almost a year?"

"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starvin'." Daryl commented.

"There's only a little left." Tomas said.

"We'll take half." Dad stated. "In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block."

"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left." Andrew replied.

"Bet you got more food than you got choices." Dad told him, "You pay, we'll play. We'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it."

"All right." Tomas agreed.

"But let's be clear. If we see you out here anywhere near our people, if I so much catch a whiff of you scent, I will kill you."

"Deal."

Tomas and the other prisoners led us back to the cafeteria.

"Pantry's back here." Tomas said.

"You never tried to break out of here?" T-Dog asked.

"Yeah, we tried to take the doors off. But if you make one peep in here, then those freaks'll be lined up outside the door growling, trying to get in." Oscar answered. "Windows got bars on there that He-Man couldn't get through."

"Bigger than a 5x8."

"You won't find me complaining. Doing 15. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks." Big Tiny said.

I don't doubt it. That man is a giant.

"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing." Oscar replied.

"You done jerking each other off?" Tomas asked from the doorway. "Sick of waiting back here."

We followed them into the pantry. A little bit? That thing was stocked!

"You call that a little bit of food?" Daryl asked Tomas.

"Goes fast." Tomas replied. "You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish-"

"We said half. That's the deal." I interrupted.

"What's in there?" Dad asked, pointing to a door.

"Don't open that." Oscar said as dad opened it.

Dad coughed and gagged and Tomas smiled, "He wanted to know."

"Can't wait for my own pot to piss in." Axel said.

They must have used it for a bathroom. Gross.

* * *

"Food's here!" I yelled coming into the block with a big box of canned foods.

"What do you got?" Carl asked, opening the door.

"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans." T-Dog answered. "There's a lot more where this came from."

"Any change?" Dad asked Glenn.

I didn't wait for the answer because this box was heavy. I helped Carl put the bag and boxes in an empty cell. I then followed T-Dog back to Daryl and the prisoners.

"Why do I need this when I got this?" Tomas asked, holding up a crowbar and his gun.

"You don't fire guns, not unless your back's against a wall." Daryl answered.

"Noise attracts them." I said.

"We'll go in two by two. Daryl will run point with Arabella. I'll bring up the rear with T. Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get." Dad said, "Anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down. Anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head."

"And that's where you aim. These things only go down with a head shot." Daryl continued.

"You ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man." Tomas replied.

"They ain't men. They're something else." T-Dog responded.

"Just remember to go for the brain." Dad said before we left.

* * *

"Man, it's too damn dark in here." Oscar said as we walked in the tombs.

"Gotta hold it up high out in front of you." Daryl told him.

"You're gonna hear them before you see them." Tomas said.

We heard some bangs and Axel yelled, "It's coming."

"Shhh."

We saw two walkers and Daryl counted off, he only got to two before the prisoners let out a yell and ran towards them. They weren't even going for the head, they were going for the stomach. The four of us stood there, watching them. They eventually got them on the head.

"It's got to be the brain." Daryl said as we found one more and shot it. "Not the stomach or the heart. The brain.

"I hear you. The brain." Axel said as another came toward us.

Oscar hit it in the head with his axe, "Like that?"

"Yep." I answered.

Axel got the next one then dad got the one after that.

"Stay in tight formation. None of that prison riot crap." Dad said as more came.

We were fighting them off until I heard a scream behind me. Tomas pushed past me and shot a walker. Not once, but three times. I looked at Big Tiny's back and saw a scratch.

"I'm telling you, I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch." Big Tiny told me.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"I can keep fighting!" Big Tiny yelled.

"Don't yell at her!" Daryl replied.

"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life." Andrew said.

"Look at where the bite is." Rick told him.

"Guys, I'm fine. Just- I'm fine." Big Tiny said before looking at Rick, "Look at me, I'm not changing into one of those things."

"Look, man, there has to be something we can do." Oscar said. "We could just lock him up."

"Quarantine him." Axel continued.

"We gotta do something. Why you just standing there? We gotta save him." Andrew said.

"There's nothing we can do." Rick told Andrew.

"You son of a bitch."

I watched as Tomas came behind Big Tiny with his crowbar and hit him in the head and knocked him to the ground before getting on top and bashing his head in. When he was done, the wall and Tomas' face was covered in blood.

Daryl grabbed my arm to bring me closer to him as Tomas walked past us.

We had T-Dog walk in front of them and dad, Daryl and I stayed behind to watch Tomas.

"You see the look on his face?" Daryl asked. "He makes on move, just give me a signal."

Dad looked down at me, "Make sure you stay by Daryl or me."

I nodded, not keeping my eyes of Tomas.

We walked into a laundry room. There were no walkers in here, but behind the doors you could hear them. Daryl threw the keys at Tomas' feet.

"I ain't opening that." Tomas said.

"Yes, you are. If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this." Dad replied.

I saw Andrew giving dad a weird look as Tomas picked up the keys. And instead of opening one door, he opened both of them.

"I said one door!" Dad yelled.

"Shit happens!" Tomas replied.

Daryl got over by T-Dog and Axel got between us. I wouldn't have been worried if Tomas wasn't next to me. I took down a walker and watched as Tomas almost hit dad with his weapon. Then Tomas threw a walker at him.

"Dad!" I yelled before running over and getting the walker off him and stabbing it through it's eye.

I helped dad up before I turned around and the walkers were dead.

"It was coming at me, bro." Tomas said when dad walked up to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it. Shit happens." Dad replied.

I knew what dad was going to do and I was trying to walk over to Daryl before Tomas reached out and grabbed my wrist tightly. Very tightly.

"Ow!" I yelled in pain.

"No!"

Dad then swung his machete into Tomas' head. The grip on my wrist loosened and I backed away. Once dad got his knife out Andrew tried to hit him with his bat. Dad dodged and kicked him to the ground. Andrew got up and ran down the hallway.

"I got him." Dad said before running after him.

"Get down on you knees." Daryl said, pointing his crossbow at Oscar.

"We have no affiliation to what just happened." Axel said as the two prisoners got on their knees. "Tell him, Oscar."

"Stop talking, man." Oscar replied.

"You okay?" Daryl asked me.

"Yeah." I answered, rubbing my wrist.

It was already bruising.

* * *

"We didn't have nothing to do with that." Oscar told dad.

"You didn't know?" Dad asked, pointing his gun in his face. "You knew. Daryl, let's end this know.

Daryl walked over and put a knife at Oscar's throat as Dad pointed his gun at Axel's.

"Sir, you gotta listen to me, please. It was them that was bad. It wasn't us." Axel begged.

"Oh, that's convenient." Dad commented.

"You saw what he did to Tiny. He was my friend. Please, we ain't like that." Axel said. "I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!"

Now I'm feeling bad for Axel. He didn't look like the criminal type when I first saw him.

Dad turned away from Axel and turned to Oscar.

"What about you?" Dad asked.

"I ain't never pleaded for my life. And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do."

Dad let the two go and we walked to cell block D. It wasn't as clean as ours. We didn't have many bodies, but this one had bodies at every cell.

"Oh, man." Axel said. "I knew these guys. These were good men."

"Let's go." Dad said.

"So you're just gonna leave us in here?" Oscar asked. "Man, this is sick."

"We're locking down this cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours. Take it or leave it. That was the deal." Dad said.

"You think this is sick? You don't wanna know what's outside." Daryl said.

"Consider yourselves the lucky ones." Dad said before leaving.

"Sorry about your friends, man." Daryl said before grabbing my hand and we left.

* * *

"Hershel stopped breathing. Mom saved him." Carl told dad when we got to the cells.

"It's true." Glenn confirmed.

We walked into the cell and I stood by mom.

"Still no fever." She said.

We stood there in silence until we see his eyelids moving. When he opened them, they weren't the milky color of a walker, but blue eyes.

"Daddy?"

"Daddy."

Dad took his keys and unlocked the handcuffs. Hershel held out his hand towards dad's and dad grabbed it before kneeling down next to him.

Mom kissed my temple before moving around me and leaving the cell.

"Come here." Dad said to Beth and he had her hold Hershel's hand.

When the sun started setting I lied down on the mattress and closed my eyes. I lied there for a few minutes before I felt someone take my hands and pull me up into a sitting position. I opened my eyes and saw Daryl's blue ones. He sat down in front of me and grabbed his rag. I watched as he poured some water onto the rag and he lifted it to my face, wiping away the walker blood. He poured more water and started cleaning the blood off my neck. When he was done he set the rag down and looked at my wrist, which had a bruise from Tomas.

He ran his fingers over it before I spoke, "It'll go away."

"I should've put an arrow into his head the moment he touched you." Daryl replied.

"My dad had it covered." I smiled before lying down and pulling him down next to me.

I kissed him before closing my eyes and falling to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Killer Within and Say the Word**

"Let's get the other car in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Dad said after we moved the bus out of the way of the gate.

"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant vacancy sign." Daryl replied.

"After that we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em." Dad continued.

"Gonna be a long day." T-Dog commented.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." I asked.

"Up in the guard tower." Daryl answered, pointing to it.

"Guard tower? They were just up there last night." Dad said.

"Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl yelled.

We saw Glenn's head pop up and he opened the door. He was buttoning his pants and he was shirtless. Behind him Maggie stood up.

"Hey, what's up guys?" Glenn asked.

We were all laughing, "You comin'?"

"What?" Glenn replied.

"You comin'?" Daryl repeated.

He looked back at Maggie before looking at us.

"Come on, we could use a hand." Daryl said.

"Yeah, we'll be right down." Glenn replied.

Dad, Daryl, and I walked toward the cars before T-Dog spoke, "Hey, Rick."

We turned around and saw the two remaining prisoners walking toward us.

"You stay here." Dad said to me and Carol before turning to Daryl and T-Dog, "You two come with me."

They talked for a few minutes before leading them towards the gate I was next to. Daryl locked them out while dad talked to us.

"Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you?" Dad questioned T-Dog. "They'll be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped." T-Dog answered. "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know. Axel seems unstable." Glenn said.

"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol asked.

"It's just been us for so long. They're strangers. I don't- it feels weird all of the sudden to have these other people around." Maggie said.

"You brought us in." T-Dog replied.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot Arabella in your arms. Didn't give us a choice." Maggie responded.

"They can't even kill walkers." Glenn said.

"They're convicts, bottom line." Carol stated.

"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." T-Dog replied.

"I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos." Daryl said. "I could have been in there with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So are you with me?" T-Dog asked him.

"Hell no. Let 'em take their chances out on the road just like we did."

"What I'm saying, Daryl-" T-Dog started.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence and then, two weeks later, shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

* * *

"Move the cars to the upper yards." Dad told us after we piled the walker bodies in the yard and threw the keys to Glenn. "Point 'em facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail."

Dad looked over at T-Dog, "We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road."

"Might not last a week."

"It's their choice." Dad replied.

"Did they really have one?" T-Dog asked.

"Hey, hey. Whose blood would you rather have on your hands, Maggie's, Glenn's, or theirs?"

"Neither." T-Dog answered.

I was parking Hershel's red truck when I saw the door open and Mom came out, Hershel came out on crutches following her and Beth and Carl were behind him.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl asked.

"Give me another day or so. I'll take you on." Hershel answered.

"Go Hershel." I smiled as I stepped out and walked over.

We were all quiet. We just stood there, either watching Hershel or someone else. Mom and dad were looking at each other. I smiled and put my arm around her shoulder.

"Walkers! Look out!"

I turned around and saw a bunch of walkers coming toward us. We all started shooting them. I stayed next to mom as we shot.

"Lori!" Maggie yelled.

Carl, mom, and I ran towards Maggie and we went into the cell block. We were walking toward the cells before walkers came out. We ran to the door and shut it. We walked in the hallways. I stayed next to mom and Maggie and Carl were in front of us. The alarms were on somehow and we were nervous. We walked around a corner before mom leaned against the wall.

"Something's not right." Mom said.

"Are you bit?" Carl asked.

"No, no, no. I think the baby's coming." Mom answered, leaning against the wall.

"Mom?"

I looked down the hallway and saw walkers coming.

"No, there's no time. Turn back." Mom said.

Carl was in front of us. Mom's arm was wrapped around Maggie and I's shoulders as we helped her walk down the hallways.

"In here!" Carl said, opening a door that said boiler room.

The door wouldn't close so we walked further into the room. We heard the walkers walking past the room and she gasped in pain and she gripped my hand.

"What are those alarms?" Mom asked.

"Don't worry about it." Maggie answered.

"What if it attracts them?" Carl asked as we moved further back into the room.

"Lori, let's lie you down." Maggie said.

"No, the baby's coming now." Mom replied.

"We have to get back to our cell block and have Hershel help." Carl said.

"We can't risk being caught our there." I replied.

"You're gonna give birth to this baby here." Maggie said.

"Great." Mom said before she started panting.

"What is she doing? Can't she breath?" Carl asked.

"She's fine. Here, let's get your pants off." Maggie answered and Maggie and I had mom lie down and got her pants down.

"I'll do an exam. Let me see if you're dilated." Maggie told mom.

"Okay."

"Do you know how?" I asked.

"Dad taught me, but trust me, it's my first time." Maggie answered.

"I can't tell." Maggie said after a moment.

"I gotta push." Mom said as she stood up and grabbed a few bars.

Mom took a few deep breaths before pushing, "Somebody!"

I grabbed her hand and Maggie was behind her, ready to catch the baby.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Mom said.

"You're doing great, Lori. Just keep doing it." Maggie told her. "You're body knows what to do. Let it do all of the work."

Mom yelped again before pushing again.

"Lori, stop, don't push. Something's wrong." Maggie said.

Mom screamed and I saw that Maggie had blood on her hand. We lowered mom to the ground.

"Mom?" Carl asked, grabbing her other hand.

"Mom, keep your eyes open, please." I said.

"We have to get you back to dad." Maggie said.

"I'm not gonna make it."

"Don't say that." I replied.

"Lori, with all this blood, I don't even think you're fully dilated yet." Maggie told her. "No amount of pushing is gonna help."

"I know what it means and I'm not losing this baby. You gotta cut me open." Mom said.

"No. I can't."

"You don't have a choice." Mom told Maggie.

"I'll go for help." Carl replied, getting up.

"No!" Mom exclaimed.

"Carol's the one that practiced that. Dad only taught me the steps, Lori. I have no anesthetic, no equipment-" Maggie started.

"Carl had a knife."

"You won't survive." Maggie responded.

"My baby has to survive. Please. My baby...for all of us. Please! Maggie! Please!" Mom replied.

Carl hesitantly gave Maggie his knife and mom lifted up her shirt.

"You see my old C-Section scar?" Mom asked.

"I can't."

"You can. You have to. Arabella, Carl, I don't want you two to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right. Now you two take care of your daddy for me, all right? And your little brother or sister, you take care-"

"You don't have to do this." Carl interrupted.

"You two are gonna be fine. You are gonna beat this world. I know you will. You two are smart and strong and brave and I love you two so much." Mom said.

"I love you, too." Carl and I said at the same time.

"Arabella, I need you to shoot me once the baby is here, okay?"

"Momma, I can't-" I started.

"Yes, you can. I know you can." Mom said, wiping my tears.

"You're my sweet little boy." Mom said, wiping Carl's tears, "And you're my sweet little girl."

"I love you." Mom said hugging both Carl and I.

"Okay, okay. All right."

"I'm sorry, Lori." Maggie said before cutting mom open.

Mom screamed in pain before closing her eyes.

"What are you doing to her?" Carl asked.

"Arabella, I need your hands." Maggie said.

Carl looked at mom as I helped Maggie.

"I see it. I see the ears. I'm gonna pull the baby out." Maggie said, "I don't know if this is the arm or leg."

Then she pulled out a baby girl. But she wasn't crying.

"Try patting her back." I told Maggie as she rubbed her belly.

After Maggie did what I told her to the baby started crying. Carl took off his jacket and gave it to her.

"We have to go." Maggie said after wrapping the baby.

"Maggie, I have to-"

"I know. I'll be outside." Maggie replied.

Carl grabbed my hand and I took out my gun and aimed it to mom's head.

"I love you." I told her before puling the trigger.

I pulled on Carl's hand and we walked back over to Maggie, "Can I hold her?"

Maggie nodded and handed the baby to me. I clutched her close to me as we walked toward the cell block. When no one was there we headed outside and everyone was there except for Carol and T-Dog. Dad walked toward us and dropped his hatchet. I could feel my lips quivering.

"Where is she?" Dad asked me.

When I didn't answer he turned to Maggie, "Where is she? Where is she?"

Maggie was about to cry too and Rick started walking towards the door, "No... Rick, no."

Dad started crying and he looked at Carl. I was worried about my little brother, he wasn't even crying. He was just staring at the ground. Dad then fell back on the ground while crying. I saw Daryl put his crossbow on the ground before walking towards me. He hugged me as tight as he could without squeezing the baby that I was still holding.

She started crying and I knew why, she was hungry. Daryl stepped back and walked towards dad.

"Rick, you with me?" Daryl asked. "Rick?"

"Let me see the baby." Hershel said and I walked over to him.

"What are we gonna feed it?" Daryl asked.

"Her." I said. "What are we gonna feed her?"

"The good news is she looks healthy." Hershel said, "But she needs formula. And soon or she won't survive."

"Nope. No way. Not her." Daryl replied, putting his crossbow on his back, "We ain't losing nobody else. I'm going for a run."

He kissed my head.

"I'll back you up." Maggie responded.

"Okay, think where we're going." Daryl told her before turning to Oscar and Axel, "You two get the fence. Too many pile up, we got ourselves a problem. Maggie, vamonos."

"Rick!" Maggie exclaimed when dad took his hatchet and ran inside.

Maggie and Daryl ran toward his bike and Glenn followed. I looked over at Sophia, who had tears in her eyes. She just lost her mom, too. We all went inside except for Glenn, he went into the yard to start digging the graves.

We lost Mom, Carol, and T-Dog. Hershel went outside to talk to Glenn and Beth was in her cell with Sophia and Carl. I sat on the steps that went up to the other cells holding the baby. I got her to sleep, but it will only be a matter of time before she wakes up and cries for food. I just hope Daryl and Maggie will come back soon. Will formula and diapers. She's still in Carl's jacket.

Glenn came in and told me that he was going to go find my dad. He came back a while later looking freaked out.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He shook his head before leaving.

* * *

Carl was holding the baby when Maggie and Daryl came in.

"How's she doing?" Daryl asked.

"She's hungry." I told him before Daryl took her from Carl.

"Shhh."

Beth came over with a bottle of formula and he took it from her.

"Come on. Come on." We all smiled when she stopped crying and started drinking.

Daryl looked over to me and I smiled. It was cute seeing Daryl with the baby.

"She got a name yet?" He asked.

"Not yet." Carl answered, "There's Carol, and Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know."

"Yeah... you like that? Huh? Little Ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right?"Daryl asked and we all let out a small laugh, "Little Ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"

Later that night, I was in a separate cell, watching over the baby. She's wake up every few hours, crying. She slept on the mattress and I sat against the wall.

"Hey." I heard from the doorway.

I looked over and saw Daryl.

"Hi." I replied, looking back at my baby sister.

"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting next to me.

I shrugged.

"It's okay to cry, you know. Your mom just died." Daryl said.

"I know." I replied, tears forming in my eyes.

He put his arm around my shoulders and I buried my head into his chest, crying for my mom, for Carol, for T-Dog, everyone we lost.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hounded and When the Dead Come Knocking**

The next morning I sat next to Daryl on the steps as everyone ate breakfast silently. Beth offered to take little ass-kicker and I let her.

"Everybody okay?" Dad asked, walking into the room.

It was the first time I saw him since mom died and he ran off. He looked better. He cleaned off and was wearing different clothes.

"Yeah, we are." Maggie answered.

"What about you?" Hershel asked.

"I cleared out the boiler block." Dad replied.

"How many were there?" Daryl questioned.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen." He answered.

Really? Dad took out two dozen walkers on his own?

"I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl and Arabella." Dad said.

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies." Glenn replied. "You don't have to."

"No, I do." Dad responded, "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah. We're runnin' low on ammo, though." Daryl answered.

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn said. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared out the generator room." Daryl said. "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good. Good." Dad said before leaving.

"Rick!" Hershel called out.

* * *

"Watch him." I told Daryl before kissing him.

"I will." He replied before he, Carl, and Oscar left to kill the walkers on the lower levels of the prison.

While I waited for them to come back I played a board game with Sophia. Ass-kicker was in the cell from last night, I played calm songs to put her to sleep. I had my iPod since the beginning of all of this, but I wanted to save the battery. I guess it's time I start using it. I missed hearing music, not that Beth's singing wasn't good.

Only Carl and Oscar came back. Carl said Daryl stayed behind to do something. When little ass-kicker woke up, Hershel held her while I helped Beth with lunch. Carl sat next to me on at the table and we saw dad walk in.

He walked past us, his eyes on the baby. Hershel let dad take the baby from his arms, "Hey."

We went outside, dad still holding little ass-kicker. Dad must have saw something, because he handed me ass-kicker before walking towards the outer fence. She started crying and I smelled her diaper.

"I'm going to go change her." I told the others before going inside.

I stopped by the tables when I saw Daryl carry in a bloody Carol.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

He nodded, "Just needs food, water, and some rest. She'll be fine."

"Alright." I said before going into a cell and grabbing diapers and wipes.

After changing my sister I got Sophia and brought her to her mom. Then dad came in holding an african-american girl and the rest of the group followed.

"Carl, blanket. Beth, water and a towel." Dad ordered.

"Here?" Carl asked as he laid a blanket down on the ground.

"She's not coming in the cell blocks." Dad said as he put the girl down on the blanket.

He also put down a sword. Dad took the water bottle from Beth and put some down on the girl's neck and chest.

"Who are you?" Dad asked her.

She didn't answer and tried to grab the sword but dad kicked it out of reach.

"No. We're not gonna hurt you unless you try to do something stupid first, all right?"

"Rick." Daryl said from behind me. "Who the hell is this?"

"You wanna tell us your name?" Dad asked as she sat up.

"Y'all come on in here." Daryl said when she didn't answer.

"Everything all right?" Dad asked.

"You're gonna want to see this." Daryl replied.

"Go ahead. Carl, get the bag." Dad told us.

I took the baby and walked inside the cell block. After dad came in Daryl closed the door and locked it. Daryl brought Rick and the others to Carol while I took the formula from Carl and started to make the baby's bottle. I let Carol feed the baby and Hershel, dad, and Daryl questioned the girl.

"She's beautiful. What's her name?" Carol asked.

"She doesn't have one yet." I answered.

After questioning her, Hershel was stitching her wound while the rest of us talked.

"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar asked.

"This is Maggie and Glenn. Why are we even debatin'?" Beth answered.

"We ain't. I'll go after them." Daryl replied.

"Well, this place sounds pretty secure. You can't go alone." Dad said.

"I'll go." Beth responded.

"Me, too." Axel spoke up.

I sat next to Carol on the steps as we watched them talk.

"I'm in." Oscar said.

* * *

I was helping Daryl put supplies in the car a while later,

"I got the flash bangs and I got the tear gas. You never know what you're gonna need." Daryl said before putting on his leather vest.

"Hey, don't you worry about your old man." Daryl said to Carl as I put the bags in the trunk of the Hyundai, "I'm gonna keep an eye on him."

Daryl patted Carl on the back and we headed back inside. Once the car was loaded up, Daryl walked over to me.

"Stay safe." He said.

"Same goes for you." I replied before he kissed me.

We were interrupted by Carl who walked in between us.

"Judith."

"What?" Daryl questioned.

"That's the baby's name. Judith." He smiled before walking back inside.

"I like Little Ass-kicker better." Daryl said before kissing me again and getting in the car.

We watched as the car left. I sighed before re-adjusting my bow on my back.

"I'm on guard duty. You guys go inside and rest." I said before jogging to the guard tower that was on my left.

I watched as they all went inside, including Axel. It was already about an hour into my shift when I got bored. Luckily I brought a book, and my iPod. I sat on top of the old, rusty railing and opened to page one and turned my iPod to shuffle.

About 30 minutes later I was swinging my feet as I read. I got bored with the book so I just shut it and put it on the platform. I sighed and swung my feet even more before I heard a groaning noise. I took out my headphones for a second and I heard it again. It was the railing. I looked down at it, and pressed more of my weight on it. It made the noise again.

"We need to fix this thing. It could break-" I started before the metal collapsed under my weight.

***Carl POV***

"Carl, got get your sister. Tell her it's time for dinner." Hershel told me a few hours after my dad left.

I nodded before leaving the cell block. I opened the door and the first thing I saw was my older sister lying on the ground.

"Arabella?" I asked as I walked closer.

My eyes widened when I noticed the pool of blood around her head.

"Arabella!" I yelled kneeling next to her and shaking her shoulders.

"Wake up!" I yelled.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" I repeated.

When she didn't even move I stood up and ran inside.

"Hershel! Help, please!" I yelled, tears in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked as everyone came up to me.

"Arabella... She's not... waking up."

I was practically hyperventilating.

"Calm down. Take me to her." Hershel said to me and I rushed outside, back to Arabella.

"She won't wake up." I told Hershel when he came over.

"Did you see what happened?" He asked.

I shook my head.

Carol looked up at the tower, "She must've fell, look at the rails."

I looked up and saw that the railing was broken.

"She must've been sitting on it or somethin'." Beth said.

"Hershel, do something! I can't lose her." I begged, holding her hand.

"We need to get her inside. Axel, Carol, try to bring her to her bed. Make sure her head doesn't move around too much." Hershel ordered.

Axel and Carol grabbed Arabella by her arms and dragged her inside. We couldn't get her up the stairs to where her and Daryl sleep, so we put her on mom's old bed. Hershel ordered us out of the room. I sat on the steps to the perch, waiting.

"Will she be okay?" I asked Hershel when he came out.

He shook his head, "She needed stitches on the back of her head. I can't be sure, but I do believe she cracked her skull. I'm not sure if she will wake up or not. Can you bring everyone in here, please?"

I nodded and got everyone but Axel. He was outside on guard duty.

"So she's in a coma?" Carol questioned after Hershel told us everything.

"Yes. I believe so. We do not have breathing tubes, so I need someone watching her 24/7. Every half hour someone has to check her breathing. If it is labored, wait five minutes, if it hasn't evened out give her CPR. That should return her breathing to normal."

* * *

Sophia was the first to watch her. Right now, Beth and I were on the steps loading guns.

"Finally got Judith to sleep." Hershel said, walking over to us.

"How are we on formula?" I asked.

"We got enough to last us another month."

I sighed, "I'll take Carol out to get more and the end of the week."

"You dad and the others will be back by then." Beth said.

I looked up at her, "We don't know that. Right now, Judith is the only family I got."

"What about Arabella?" Beth asked.

"We don't know if she'll wake up."

We sat there in silence for a moment until we heard a woman screaming.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"That was from inside." Hershel said.

"Was that Carol?" I asked.

"She's out keeping watch in the guard tower with Axel." Hershel answered.

"What if they came back in for somethin'?" Beth asked, "What if they're in trouble?"

"Let's check the tower, see if she's there." Hershel said.

"How could anyone else get in?"

"The tombs are filled with walkers that wandered in from outside. Someone lese could have done the same thing." He answered.

I grabbed my gun and stood up, "I'm going."

"I can't let you go down there." Hershel said, blocking my way with a crutch.

"My father would go."

Hershel nodded and let me through.

* * *

"I'll take care of it." I said, aiming my gun to Donna's head.

"Whoa! Whoa, kid. Wait a minute." The guy responded.

"She doesn't have that long." I replied.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here? Who are you with?" The woman asked.

"Look, we can help you. First things first." I replied.

"No, we take care of our own." The guy told me before grabbing the hammer out of the kid's hands.

"No, Tyreese!" Donna's husband said.

"I gotta do it. Look, just take Ben and lean against the wall." Tyreese replied. "It'll be quick."

Not wanting to watch all the drama, I walked back into the cell block and closed and locked the door.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" The lady asked me.

"Kid, did you just lock us in here?" Tyreese asked.

"Open the door." The lady said.

"This room is secure. You'll be safe." I replied. "You have food and water."

She walked up to the door and wrapped her fingers around the bar, "Open this door."

"I can't."

"Oh, come on man, we're not animals. Don't do this." She looked behind me at Hershel who was poking his head out of the room Arabella was in, "Hey! You can't just leave us in here! Open this door! Open it! Now!"

"Sasha!" Tyreese said, "Back away from their door and let the man go. Look around you. This is the best we've had in weeks. His house." He looked back at Donna, "We got other things to do." He then looked at me, "We don't want any trouble."

I nodded before they walked over to Donna and Ben and Donna's husband.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked.

"I did."


	15. Chapter 15

**Suicide King and Home**

***Carl POV***

The next morning Axel made food for everyone, even for our new quests. After he fixed up the Alan's leg, Hershel told them that they might not be able to stay.

"We wouldn't be a problem." Tyreese said.

"It wouldn't be up to me." Hershel replied.

"Then who?"

Hershel turned around and started to go back into the block.

"Please, you can see what kind of people we are." Tyreese begged.

We didn't answer and I closed and locked the door behind Hershel. I then walked into the cell Arabella was in. It was now my shift to watch her. Luckily Hershel taught me CPR so I don't have to call someone in when she can't breath.

I was sitting there, cleaning my gun when I looked up and I couldn't see Arabella's chest moving. I dropped my gun and kneeled beside the bed.

"Come on, Arabella. Breathe." I remember Hershel told us to wait five minutes.

Screw waiting five minutes, I pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth.

"Come on." I sobbed and repeated my actions.

I sighed in relief when her chest was moving again and I heard her breathing. After a few hours, it was Hershel's shift so I went outside by the gates with Carol.

"It's so quiet. It's easy to forget how loud the world used to be." Carol said, breaking the silence, "I used to complain about it all the time. Traffic, construction, car alarms, noise pollution. Oh. What I wouldn't give for the sweet sound of a jumbo jet."

"I'd be even sweeter if we were all on it." I replied.

"Your mom was proud of you."

"For what? Being mean to her?" I questioned.

"No, you can't think about that." Carol replied.

"It's all I think about." I said before I heard a car approaching. "Please be them."

Once I saw the green car I ran over to the opening and unlocked the gate before opening it. I ran back to get the other one while Carol shut the gate behind the car.

"Drive 'em up. I'll meet you there." Dad told Maggie as he got out of the car.

"Okay." Maggie relied before driving to the prison.

"Thank god." Dad said and he hugged me.

"Where's Hershel?" Dad said.

"In the cell block." I answered.

"Alright, come one." Dad said.

Dad, Carol, and I ran up to the prison. Everyone got out of the car except Oscar and Daryl.

"Where's Daryl?" I asked.

"He's alive. Don't worry. We ran into his brother and they went off." Dad answered. "Where's Arabella?"

"Um, Rick, something happened when you were gone." Carol started.

"Is she-?"

"She's not dead. But she's badly hurt." Carol replied.

"Where is she?" Dad asked again.

I grabbed dad's arm and we walked inside. I led him into the cell she was in and you could see his heart break. He didn't even notice Tyreese and his group.

"What happened?" He asked, sitting next to Arabella and grabbing her hand.

"We think she fell from the guard tower and hit her head on the cement." Hershel answered.

"Will she be okay?"

"We don't know. For now she's in a coma." Hershel replied. "But, Rick, we have something else to take care of."

* * *

"So what now? Do you think the Governor will retaliate?" Beth asked, holding Judith.

"Yes." Maggie answered.

"Let him try."

"Sounds like he's got a whole town. We're outnumbered and outgunned." Carol said.

"We could use some reinforcements." Hershel said, looking at dad.

Dad looked at us before we left the cell block to see Tyreese and his group.

"I'm Tyreese."

"Sasha, Allen, Ben." Hershel continued when dad didn't shake Tyreese's hand.

"How'd you get in?" Dad asked.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down." Tyreese answered.

"That side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?"

"We didn't. We lost our friend Donna." Tyreese replied.

"They were lost in the gyms." I said.

"You brought them here?" Dad asked me.

"He had no choice." Hershel replied,

Dad nodded before turning back to Tyreese.

"I'm sorry about your friend. We know what that's like." Dad said.

"Hershel said you could use some extra hands." Tyreese commented. "We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out, get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

"No."

"Please." Sasha begged. "It's like '10 Little Indians' out there. It's just us now."

"No."

"Let's talk about this." Hershel said, "We can't just keep-"

"We've been through this. With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened." Dad interrupted.

"Axel and Oscar weren't like them." Carol responded.

"And where's Oscar now?" Dad asked, "I can't be responsible."

"You turn us out, you are responsible." Tyreese replied.

"Rick."

Dad walked over to Hershel, "You've done so much for us. And I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."

Dad looked at Tyreese's group before looking at us, "Yeah."

He then looked above us on the platform.

"No, no." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, no, no, no. No. No, no, no, no, no."

"Why are you here?" He asked, looking up, "What do you want from me?"

"Dad?" I questioned.

"Why are you-no." He was looking at something, " I can't help you! Get out!"

"Hey, come on. Whoa, it's all good." Tyreese said.

"What are you doing?" Sasha asked.

"Hey, easy, Rick. There's no need to-" Maggie started.

"You don't belong here! Get out! Please! Get out! Get out!" Dad yelled.

"We're going. We're leaving." Tyreese said. "Okay? Ain't nobody gotta get shot here."

"What are you doing here!"

"Just go! Go!" Glenn ushered them out.

***Rick POV***

_A few days later_

"It's gonna break her heart when she wakes up and finds out that Daryl left." Carol said from the doorway.

"If she wakes up." I replied, squeezing Arabella's hand.

"When. Arabella is strong. She'll wake up eventually." Carol smiled before leaving.

I sighed and laid my head on the bed and fell asleep.

"Daryl."

I opened up my eyes and looked up. Arabella's eyes were open.

"Dad?"

"Hey, baby girl." I smiled.

"What happened?" She asked softly.

"You fell from the guard tower and hit your head.

"That explains my headache." She smiled, "Where's Daryl?"

"Look, um, it's kinda hard for me to say this so-"

"Is he dead?" Arabella asked.

"No. He's fine. He's, uh, gone." I finished.

"What?"

"We found his brother. Daryl left with Merle." I replied.

"He-he wouldn't do that." She said.

"Listen, Arabella, I need to get Hershel. I need you to keep your eyes open, okay?"

"I'll try." She whispered.

I kissed her forehead before leaving the cell and looking for Hershel. He was outside with the others. I ran over to the group.

"She's awake." I told him.

He nodded and we went inside the cell block and over to the cell. I had tears in my eyes when I saw her.

"Arabella? Wake up." I said, slightly shaking her shoulders.

She had a tear trail going down her cheek. I put my hands on her cheeks and wiped it away.

"She was awake. I-I told her to keep her eyes open." I said.

"Did you tell her about Daryl?" Hershel asked.

I nodded, "She asked where he was. I couldn't lie to her."

"Maybe you shouldn't have told her." Maggie said from the doorway.

"She would've been asking until I told her." I replied.

"I'll tell you this, Rick. If I just woke up from a coma and was told Glenn left for his no good brother I would've closed my eyes again, wishing it was just a dream. And when I do wake up, he'll be there." Maggie responded.

_One Week Later_

I was outside the prison fence when the Governor attacked us. He had someone pour walkers inside the gates. I yelled as a walker came up behind me and I was against the fence. Then another walker came. As I hit one walker to the fence, an familiar arrow went through the walker's head.

It was Daryl.

And Merle.

Merle came over and killed the other walker for me. More walkers came and the three of us killed them. Once they were dead I looked over at Daryl and nodded my head in greeting. We walked over to the fence and watched the walkers in the yard.


	16. Chapter 16

**I ain't a Judas and Clear**

"We're not leaving." I said.

"We can't stay here." Hershel argued.

"What if there's another sniper?" Maggie asked. "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"We can't even go outside." Beth said.

"Not in the daylight."

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn said.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle said from the cell.

"You got a better idea?" I asked him.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day." Merle replied. "But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl said.

We had to tell him about Arabella last night when he came back. He blamed himself and this is the first time out of the cell she was in.

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." Merle replied.

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie said.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl replied.

"This is all you. You started this."

"What's the difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth asked.

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel said.

I started to walk away.

"Get back here." Hershel yelled before coming over to me, "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

***Carl POV***

After talking with dad I went to Arabella's cell. Dad had a group meeting so Daryl wasn't in the room. I knew it wasn't gonna be long before he came back to watch over her.

"He's back, you know. Daryl. He hasn't left you much since he came back. He loves you. We can all tell. He really wants you to wake up." I said to her before I heard footsteps.

"Hey, kid. Why don't you help Carol with lunch?" Daryl asked.

I nodded and started walking toward the door. He sat down next to the bed and I turned around.

"She's only woken up once. She wanted to know where you were. Dad told her you left. He left her alone, went to go get Hershel. They came back, and she was asleep again. Do you think she'll wake up again?" I asked.

Daryl nodded, "Yeah. I think she will."

***Daryl POV***

I sat there for a while, holding Bella's hand. Carl came in the cell block, telling us that Andrea's here. Merle, Michonne, Rick, and Maggie left to take care of her.

"Dad?"

"Bella?" I asked, getting out of my chair and kneeling next to the bed.

"Daddy."

"Bella, can you open your eyes?"

She opened her pretty blue eyes, "Daryl?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"You can't be here. Dad said you left. With Merle." She whispered.

"I came back." I responded, "I won't leave ya again. I promise. But right now, I need you to keep your eyes open, all right?"

She nodded then winced.

"Don't move your head. Or close your eyes." I kissed her forehead lightly before getting up and leaving the cell.

"Hershel." I called out.

I silently told him to come over and he hobbled over on his crutches.

"She's awake." I whispered as the others talked to Andrea.

Hershel nodded and we went back to the cell. Her eyes were still open.

"I'm gonna need you to stay out of the room for a few minutes, all right?" Hershel said.

I nodded and leaned against the wall outside the cell. A few minutes later Hershel came out.

"You can see her now." He said before hobbling off.

"Hey." I greeted.

She was still lying down, "Hey."

"How you feelin'?" I asked, lying down behind her.

"My head hurts. But I guess that's normal for someone who fell 20 feet to their head." She answered. "Funny. First time I woke up, I was askin' for you, I get dad. Second time I ask for dad and I get you."

"I'm so sorry." I said, wrapping my arm around her waist.

"It's fine. He's your blood, I get it. I'm not mad." She replied, turning her head and kissing me.

"No. He may be my blood. But this is where my family is. I was gone when you needed me."

"It's fine, Daryl. I'm still here." She said.

We heard footsteps and Carl walked into the doorway.

"Hi." Bella said.

Carl smiled slightly.

"Come here."

Carl ran over and slid in front of Bella, hugging her.

"We're gonna break the bed." I said, my back now hitting the wall.

Bella laughed and kissed Carl's head, "Who cares."

"I thought we would lose you." Carl said.

"Come on, punk. Can't get rid of me that easily. How's Lil' Ass-kicker?"

"Still kickin'." Carl answered before getting up.

"I want to see her." Bella said, sitting up.

I sat up next to her and helped her up. With Carl on the other side of her, we got her up the stairs. Bella laughed when she saw Lil' Ass-kicker's bed. A box with her name on it.

"Hey, baby girl." Bella whispered, picking the baby up.

"I'm goin' to go get dad." Carl said before walking down the stairs.

"Where is everyone?" Bella asked.

"Andrea just arrived from Woobury They're talkin' to her right now." I answered.

Kissing Lil' Assk-kicker's forehead, Bella put the baby back in it's bed.

"I love you."

"What?" She asked turning around.

"I was thinkin', when you were in that coma, that I never said it to you. And that if you died, I would've lost my chance." I replied.

"Arabella." I heard Rick say.

She looked away from me and to her dad.

"Daddy."

She ran down the steps and hugged him.

* * *

***Arabella POV***

"We'll be back by sunset." Dad told me.

"Okay. I promise I won't get myself into a coma." I joked.

Dad kissed my forehead before getting into the passenger seat of the Hyundai. I hugged Carl tightly before he went off into the car.

"Michonne." I called out before she got in the car and she looked at me, "Watch after them."

She nodded before getting into the car.

* * *

Like dad said, they were back before sunset. They brought back many guns and a butt load of ammo. They even brought back a crib, more formula, and toys for Lil' Ass-kicker. Right now I was lying on the mattress with Daryl on the perch. I was facing him and he had an arm around my waist.

Then I realized,

I never said it back.

"Hey Daryl?"

"Hmmm?" He asked, his eyes still closed.

"I love you, too." I said before kissing him on the cheek.

I saw a small smile on his face before he pulled me closer to him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Arrow on the Doorpost and This Sorrowful Life**

Dad, Daryl, and Hershel left to go talk to the Governor. I asked if I could've gone, but dad said that I'm still recovering from my head injury. No offense or anything, but Hershel only has one and a half legs.

So I took care of Judith. After feeding her I sat in the cell block with everyone else as they loaded all the guns.

"If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo." Glenn told us, "I'll go work on the cage outside."

"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor. We know where he is right now." Merle replied.

"Are you suggesting that we just go in and kill him?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"We told Rick and Daryl that we'd stay put." I stated.

"I've changed my mind, sweetheart. Being on the sideline with my brother out there ain't sitting right with me." Merle replied.

"The three of them are sitting right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong." Glenn said.

"And they will."

"My dad can take care of himself." Carl responded.

"Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pike real soon." Merle replied.

"Don't say that to him." I told Merle.

Merle shrugged in response.

"It's not the right move. Not now. Can't take the risk of putting them in the crossfire. That's my division. It's final." Glenn said before leaving.

After loading all the weapons I went to put Judith down for her nap and play gold fish with Carl and Sophia. I got the cards from one of the cells. I heard yelling and I had Carl and Sophia stay while I find out what was going on. Merle and Glenn were fighting. When Merle brought a knife into it, Maggie jumped on Merle. Soon Michonne jumped in, too.

"Enough of this bullshit." I said while grabbing a gun and shooting the ceiling.

Merle stopped, but only because Michonne and Maggie held onto his arms.

"Let me go! Let me go!" He yelled before they backed off.

* * *

Carl, Sophia and I decided to take the game outside since it wasn't too windy. Once we heard the engine of the motorcycle, Carl got up and ran towards the gate with Carol.

"Let's get inside." Dad told everyone.

I helped Sophia with the cards before we followed the group.

"So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of ya?" Merle asked.

"Yeah." Rick answered.

"Should've gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle said to Glenn.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury. We're going to war." Dad told us before leaving the block.

* * *

"Where's Merle?" Dad asked me two days later.

"Inside." I answered, "Why?"

"I just need to talk to him." Dad answered before heading toward the door.

I watched him go inside before turning back to Sophia, braiding her hair and she played a card game with Carol. Daryl, Glenn, and Beth were setting up traps just in case the Governor tried to drive back in while Carl and Maggie distracted the walkers. Michonne was out in the field, using her sword to cut off the walker's heads.

I wanted to help, but I was still 'recovering'. I had to take care of Judith, and Carol and Sophia stayed to keep me company.

Once the truck came back in I left Sophia and Carol to walk over to the others.

"They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe some blown tires will stop them." Glenn said.

"That's a good idea." Dad commented.

"It was Michonne's." Daryl replied, putting an arm around my waist.

"We don't have to win. We just have to make their getting at us more trouble than it's worth." Michonne said.

Once Carl and Maggie came over we separated to do our own stuff. Hershel, Sophia, Beth, and Maggie went inside. Carol apparently went inside while the rest of the group was talking. Dad walked off somewhere and Glenn said he was going to go fix something. Daryl kissed my head before following Glenn.

"Arabella, I'm bored." Carl told me.

"Wanna kill some walkers?" I asked.

"Will dad let you?" He asked.

"Who cares. We'll be behind the fence. Grab the wrench and screwdriver and lets go." I told him.

He ran over to the box my the entrance and grabbed the wrench and grabbed me a screwdriver before running back over.

"Race ya." I told him before breaking out into a run.

I won and once we got our breath back, we started to stab some walkers. Glenn came out a while later. He didn't say anything. He just cut off a walker's finger before leaving. Carl and I looked at each other in confusion before turning our attention back to the walkers.

It wasn't long before we had to go back inside the prison. Beth told us that dad wanted to talk to everyone. We walked back to her and Hershel, Sophia, Carol, and Judith were already at a picnic table. Carl and I sat down, waiting for dad. He came in with Glenn and Maggie behind him. The only people that weren't there was Merle, Daryl, and Michonne.

"When I met with the Governer, he offered me a deal." Dad began, "He said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne. And I was gonna do that... to keep us safe. I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late. I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry. What I said last year, that first night after the farm... it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. It couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live... how you die- it isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight or we can go."

Once dad finished with his speech he left. I sighed before grabbing Sophia and Carl's hand and we went back into the cell block. I kept them entertained until it was time for dinner. Michonne came in without the brothers. After that I went outside to wait for Daryl and Merle. It's been a few hours and I was starting to get worried. I just hoped they didn't run off like they did earlier.

I went into the guard tower with a pair of binoculars and kept scanning the treeline. A few minutes later I saw Daryl. Only Daryl. Where was Merle? I set the binoculars down and ran out of the tower and went between the two outer fences. I ran down to the front gates and opened them for him.

"Where's Merle?" I asked.

He let out a sob and I ran to hug him before we went to our knees. He cried into my shoulder and I kissed his temple. I knew what had happened.

Merle was dead.


End file.
